Graphics architecture including a neural network pipeline

ABSTRACT

One embodiment provides for a graphics processor comprising a block of graphics compute units, a graphics processor pipeline coupled to the block of graphics compute units, and a programmable neural network unit including one or more neural network hardware blocks. The programmable neural network unit is coupled with the block of graphics compute units and the graphics processor pipeline. The one or more neural network hardware blocks include hardware to perform neural network operations and activation operations for a layer of a neural network. The programmable neural network unit can configure settings of one or more hardware blocks within the graphics processor pipeline based on a machine learning model trained to optimize performance of a set of workloads.

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/537,140 filed on Aug. 9, 2019, which claims the benefit of priorityto U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/717,685, U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/717,593, and U.S. Provisional Application No.62/717,603, each of which were filed on Aug. 10, 2018 and are herebyincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD

Embodiments relate generally to data processing and more particularly toscheduling and dispatching in a graphics architecture via neuralnetworks

BACKGROUND OF THE DESCRIPTION

Conventional scheduling and dispatching in graphics hardware rely onprefetching subsequent consecutive cache lines anticipating the nextinstruction. These techniques can be improved upon via the use of neuralnetworks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the presentembodiments can be understood in detail, a more particular descriptionof the embodiments, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference toembodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Itis to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate onlytypical embodiments and are therefore not to be considered limiting ofits scope.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a processing system, according to anembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a processor according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a graphics processor, according to anembodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a graphics processing engine of a graphicsprocessor in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of hardware logic of a graphics processorcore, according to some embodiments described herein;

FIG. 6A-6B illustrate thread execution logic including an array ofprocessing elements employed in a graphics processor core according toembodiments described herein;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a graphics processor instructionformats according to some embodiments;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a graphics processor according to anotherembodiment;

FIG. 9A-9B illustrate a graphics processor command format and commandsequence, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 10 illustrates exemplary graphics software architecture for a dataprocessing system according to some embodiments;

FIG. 11A is a block diagram illustrating an IP core development system,according to an embodiment;

FIG. 11B illustrates a cross-section side view of an integrated circuitpackage assembly, according to some embodiments described herein;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system on a chipintegrated circuit, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 13A-13B are block diagrams illustrating exemplary graphicsprocessors for use within an SoC, according to embodiments describedherein;

FIG. 14A-14B illustrate additional exemplary graphics processor logicaccording to embodiments described herein;

FIG. 15 illustrates a machine learning software stack, according to anembodiment;

FIG. 16A-16B illustrate layers of exemplary deep neural networks;

FIG. 17 illustrates an exemplary recurrent neural network;

FIG. 18 illustrates training and deployment of a deep neural network;

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating distributed learning;

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a computing device including a graphicsprocessor, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 21 illustrates a tessellation module, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 22A-22B illustrate training and inference associated with an AItessellation module;

FIG. 23A-23B illustrate training and inference for simulatedtessellation using an AI tessellation module;

FIG. 24 illustrates a set of hardware blocks associated with a graphicsprocessor described herein;

FIG. 25 illustrates a single layer hardware neural network block,according to an embodiment;

FIG. 26 illustrates a multiple layer hardware neural network block,according to an embodiment;

FIG. 27 illustrates a system in which geometry culling visibility isdetermined using machine learning, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 28 illustrates a meta-shader system, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 29 illustrates a graphics processing system including AI-baseddynamic scheduling, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 30 illustrates a system for intelligent memory controllerscheduling, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 31 illustrates a system having support for dynamic pipelineswitching, according to embodiments described herein;

FIG. 32 illustrates a system having support for AI-based dynamicpipeline switching, according to embodiments described herein;

FIG. 33 illustrates a system to enable AI driven thread dispatch,according to an embodiment; and

FIG. 34A-34B illustrate a system to enable AI-driven hardware memoryprefetching, according to embodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments described herein provide techniques to improve theefficiency of GPU deep pipelines. A first embodiment provides forAI-based tessellation at the vertex and pixel level. A second embodimentprovides for a processor including a neural network (NN) block that isaddressable by graphics execution units (EU) within the processor. Athird embodiment provides for geometry culling visibility using machinelearning to avoid expensive pre-passes in fixed function hardwareblocks. A fourth embodiment provides for a generative texture shadermodel in which a meta-shader can generate many different types oftextures. A fifth embodiment provides for an AI-based dynamic schedulingon complex GPU architecture. A sixth embodiment provides for intelligentmemory controller scheduling to support various types of memoryrequests. A seventh embodiment provides for an implementation of aneural network for a graphics pipeline. An eight embodiment provides fora neural network switch to determine when to switch between a GPUpipeline and a neural network pipeline. A ninth embodiment provides forAI Driven Thread Dispatch. A tenth embodiment provides for AI-drivenhardware memory prefetching.

For the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forthto provide a thorough understanding of the various embodiments describedbelow. However, it will be apparent to a skilled practitioner in the artthat the embodiments may be practiced without some of these specificdetails. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shownin block diagram form to avoid obscuring the underlying principles, andto provide a more thorough understanding of embodiments. Although someof the following embodiments are described with reference to a graphicsprocessor, the techniques and teachings described herein may be appliedto various types of circuits or semiconductor devices, including generalpurpose processing devices or graphic processing devices. Referenceherein to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” indicate that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described in connection orassociation with the embodiment can be included in at least one of suchembodiments. However, the appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment”in various places in the specification do not necessarily all refer tothe same embodiment.

In the following description and claims, the terms “coupled” and“connected,” along with their derivatives, may be used. It should beunderstood that these terms are not intended as synonyms for each other.“Coupled” is used to indicate that two or more elements, which may ormay not be in direct physical or electrical contact with each other,co-operate or interact with each other. “Connected” is used to indicatethe establishment of communication between two or more elements that arecoupled with each other.

In the description that follows, an overview of exemplary dataprocessing system and processor logic is provided, along with detailsfor the various embodiments presented herein. The following embodimentsare described with reference to a graphics processor. However, similartechniques and teachings may be applied to other types of circuits orsemiconductor devices, including but not limited to a many integratedcore (MIC) processor, a CPUs, one or more instances of a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), or other processing logic that istailored to performing

System Overview

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a processing system 100, according to anembodiment. In various embodiments the system 100 includes one or moreprocessors 102 and one or more graphics processors 108, and may be asingle processor desktop system, a multiprocessor workstation system, ora server system having a large number of processors 102 or processorcores 107. In one embodiment, the system 100 is a processing platformincorporated within a system-on-a-chip (SoC) integrated circuit for usein mobile, handheld, or embedded devices.

In one embodiment the system 100 can include or be incorporated within aserver-based gaming platform, a game console, including a game and mediaconsole, a mobile gaming console, a handheld game console, or an onlinegame console. In some embodiments the system 100 is a mobile phone,smart phone, tablet computing device or mobile Internet device. Theprocessing system 100 can also include, couple with, or be integratedwithin a wearable device, such as a smart watch wearable device, smarteyewear device, augmented reality device, or virtual reality device. Insome embodiments, the processing system 100 is a television or set topbox device having one or more processors 102 and a graphical interfacegenerated by one or more graphics processors 108.

In some embodiments, the one or more processors 102 each include one ormore processor cores 107 to process instructions which, when executed,perform operations for system and user software. In some embodiments,each of the one or more processor cores 107 is configured to process aspecific instruction set 109. In some embodiments, instruction set 109may facilitate Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC), ReducedInstruction Set Computing (RISC), or computing via a Very LongInstruction Word (VLIW). Multiple processor cores 107 may each process adifferent instruction set 109, which may include instructions tofacilitate the emulation of other instruction sets. Processor core 107may also include other processing devices, such a Digital SignalProcessor (DSP).

In some embodiments, the processor 102 includes cache memory 104.Depending on the architecture, the processor 102 can have a singleinternal cache or multiple levels of internal cache. In someembodiments, the cache memory is shared among various components of theprocessor 102. In some embodiments, the processor 102 also uses anexternal cache (e.g., a Level-3 (L3) cache or Last Level Cache (LLC))(not shown), which may be shared among processor cores 107 using knowncache coherency techniques. A register file 106 is additionally includedin processor 102 which may include different types of registers forstoring different types of data (e.g., integer registers, floating pointregisters, status registers, and an instruction pointer register). Someregisters may be general-purpose registers, while other registers may bespecific to the design of the processor 102.

In some embodiments, one or more processor(s) 102 are coupled with oneor more interface bus(es) 110 to transmit communication signals such asaddress, data, or control signals between processor 102 and othercomponents in the system 100. The interface bus 110, in one embodiment,can be a processor bus, such as a version of the Direct Media Interface(DMI) bus. However, processor busses are not limited to the DMI bus, andmay include one or more Peripheral Component Interconnect buses (e.g.,PCI, PCI Express), memory busses, or other types of interface busses. Inone embodiment the processor(s) 102 include an integrated memorycontroller 116 and a platform controller hub 130. The memory controller116 facilitates communication between a memory device and othercomponents of the system 100, while the platform controller hub (PCH)130 provides connections to I/O devices via a local I/O bus.

The memory device 120 can be a dynamic random access memory (DRAM)device, a static random access memory (SRAM) device, flash memorydevice, phase-change memory device, or some other memory device havingsuitable performance to serve as process memory. In one embodiment thememory device 120 can operate as system memory for the system 100, tostore data 122 and instructions 121 for use when the one or moreprocessors 102 executes an application or process. Memory controller 116also couples with an optional external graphics processor 112, which maycommunicate with the one or more graphics processors 108 in processors102 to perform graphics and media operations. In some embodiments adisplay device 111 can connect to the processor(s) 102. The displaydevice 111 can be one or more of an internal display device, as in amobile electronic device or a laptop device or an external displaydevice attached via a display interface (e.g., DisplayPort, etc.). Inone embodiment the display device 111 can be a head mounted display(HMD) such as a stereoscopic display device for use in virtual reality(VR) applications or augmented reality (AR) applications.

In some embodiments the platform controller hub 130 enables peripheralsto connect to memory device 120 and processor 102 via a high-speed I/Obus. The I/O peripherals include, but are not limited to, an audiocontroller 146, a network controller 134, a firmware interface 128, awireless transceiver 126, touch sensors 125, a data storage device 124(e.g., hard disk drive, flash memory, etc.). The data storage device 124can connect via a storage interface (e.g., SATA) or via a peripheralbus, such as a Peripheral Component Interconnect bus (e.g., PCI, PCIExpress). The touch sensors 125 can include touch screen sensors,pressure sensors, or fingerprint sensors. The wireless transceiver 126can be a Wi-Fi transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver, or a mobile networktransceiver such as a 3G, 4G, or Long Term Evolution (LTE) transceiver.The firmware interface 128 enables communication with system firmware,and can be, for example, a unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI).The network controller 134 can enable a network connection to a wirednetwork. In some embodiments, a high-performance network controller (notshown) couples with the interface bus 110. The audio controller 146, inone embodiment, is a multi-channel high definition audio controller. Inone embodiment the system 100 includes an optional legacy I/O controller140 for coupling legacy (e.g., Personal System 2 (PS/2)) devices to thesystem. The platform controller hub 130 can also connect to one or moreUniversal Serial Bus (USB) controllers 142 connect input devices, suchas keyboard and mouse 143 combinations, a camera 144, or other USB inputdevices.

It will be appreciated that the system 100 shown is exemplary and notlimiting, as other types of data processing systems that are differentlyconfigured may also be used. For example, an instance of the memorycontroller 116 and platform controller hub 130 may be integrated into adiscreet external graphics processor, such as the external graphicsprocessor 112. In one embodiment the platform controller hub 130 and/ormemory controller 116 may be external to the one or more processor(s)102. For example, the system 100 can include an external memorycontroller 116 and platform controller hub 130, which may be configuredas a memory controller hub and peripheral controller hub within a systemchipset that is in communication with the processor(s) 102.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a processor 200 having oneor more processor cores 202A-202N, an integrated memory controller 214,and an integrated graphics processor 208. Those elements of FIG. 2having the same reference numbers (or names) as the elements of anyother figure herein can operate or function in any manner similar tothat described elsewhere herein, but are not limited to such. Processor200 can include additional cores up to and including additional core202N represented by the dashed lined boxes. Each of processor cores202A-202N includes one or more internal cache units 204A-204N. In someembodiments each processor core also has access to one or more sharedcached units 206.

The internal cache units 204A-204N and shared cache units 206 representa cache memory hierarchy within the processor 200. The cache memoryhierarchy may include at least one level of instruction and data cachewithin each processor core and one or more levels of shared mid-levelcache, such as a Level 2 (L2), Level 3 (L3), Level 4 (L4), or otherlevels of cache, where the highest level of cache before external memoryis classified as the LLC. In some embodiments, cache coherency logicmaintains coherency between the various cache units 206 and 204A-204N.

In some embodiments, processor 200 may also include a set of one or morebus controller units 216 and a system agent core 210. The one or morebus controller units 216 manage a set of peripheral buses, such as oneor more PCI or PCI express busses. System agent core 210 providesmanagement functionality for the various processor components. In someembodiments, system agent core 210 includes one or more integratedmemory controllers 214 to manage access to various external memorydevices (not shown).

In some embodiments, one or more of the processor cores 202A-202Ninclude support for simultaneous multi-threading. In such embodiment,the system agent core 210 includes components for coordinating andoperating cores 202A-202N during multi-threaded processing. System agentcore 210 may additionally include a power control unit (PCU), whichincludes logic and components to regulate the power state of processorcores 202A-202N and graphics processor 208.

In some embodiments, processor 200 additionally includes graphicsprocessor 208 to execute graphics processing operations. In someembodiments, the graphics processor 208 couples with the set of sharedcache units 206, and the system agent core 210, including the one ormore integrated memory controllers 214. In some embodiments, the systemagent core 210 also includes a display controller 211 to drive graphicsprocessor output to one or more coupled displays. In some embodiments,display controller 211 may also be a separate module coupled with thegraphics processor via at least one interconnect, or may be integratedwithin the graphics processor 208.

In some embodiments, a ring-based interconnect 212 is used to couple theinternal components of the processor 200. However, an alternativeinterconnect unit may be used, such as a point-to-point interconnect, aswitched interconnect, or other techniques, including techniques wellknown in the art. In some embodiments, graphics processor 208 coupleswith the ring-based interconnect 212 via an I/O link 213.

The exemplary I/O link 213 represents at least one of multiple varietiesof I/O interconnects, including an on package I/O interconnect whichfacilitates communication between various processor components and ahigh-performance embedded memory module 218, such as an eDRAM module. Insome embodiments, each of the processor cores 202A-202N and graphicsprocessor 208 use embedded memory modules 218 as a shared Last LevelCache.

In some embodiments, processor cores 202A-202N are homogenous coresexecuting the same instruction set architecture. In another embodiment,processor cores 202A-202N are heterogeneous in terms of instruction setarchitecture (ISA), where one or more of processor cores 202A-202Nexecute a first instruction set, while at least one of the other coresexecutes a subset of the first instruction set or a differentinstruction set. In one embodiment processor cores 202A-202N areheterogeneous in terms of microarchitecture, where one or more coreshaving a relatively higher power consumption couple with one or morepower cores having a lower power consumption. Additionally, processor200 can be implemented on one or more chips or as an SoC integratedcircuit having the illustrated components, in addition to othercomponents.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a graphics processor 300, which may be adiscrete graphics processing unit, or may be a graphics processorintegrated with a plurality of processing cores. In some embodiments,the graphics processor communicates via a memory mapped I/O interface toregisters on the graphics processor and with commands placed into theprocessor memory. In some embodiments, graphics processor 300 includes amemory interface 314 to access memory. Memory interface 314 can be aninterface to local memory, one or more internal caches, one or moreshared external caches, and/or to system memory.

In some embodiments, graphics processor 300 also includes a displaycontroller 302 to drive display output data to a display device 320.Display controller 302 includes hardware for one or more overlay planesfor the display and composition of multiple layers of video or userinterface elements. The display device 320 can be an internal orexternal display device. In one embodiment the display device 320 is ahead mounted display device, such as a virtual reality (VR) displaydevice or an augmented reality (AR) display device. In some embodiments,graphics processor 300 includes a video codec engine 306 to encode,decode, or transcode media to, from, or between one or more mediaencoding formats, including, but not limited to Moving Picture ExpertsGroup (MPEG) formats such as MPEG-2, Advanced Video Coding (AVC) formatssuch as H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, as well as the Society of Motion Picture &Television Engineers (SMPTE) 421M/VC-1, and Joint Photographic ExpertsGroup (JPEG) formats such as JPEG, and Motion JPEG (MJPEG) formats.

In some embodiments, graphics processor 300 includes a block imagetransfer (BLIT) engine 304 to perform two-dimensional (2D) rasterizeroperations including, for example, bit-boundary block transfers.However, in one embodiment, 2D graphics operations are performed usingone or more components of graphics processing engine (GPE) 310. In someembodiments, GPE 310 is a compute engine for performing graphicsoperations, including three-dimensional (3D) graphics operations andmedia operations.

In some embodiments, GPE 310 includes a 3D pipeline 312 for performing3D operations, such as rendering three-dimensional images and scenesusing processing functions that act upon 3D primitive shapes (e.g.,rectangle, triangle, etc.). The 3D pipeline 312 includes programmableand fixed function elements that perform various tasks within theelement and/or spawn execution threads to a 3D/Media sub-system 315.While 3D pipeline 312 can be used to perform media operations, anembodiment of GPE 310 also includes a media pipeline 316 that isspecifically used to perform media operations, such as videopost-processing and image enhancement.

In some embodiments, media pipeline 316 includes fixed function orprogrammable logic units to perform one or more specialized mediaoperations, such as video decode acceleration, video de-interlacing, andvideo encode acceleration in place of, or on behalf of video codecengine 306. In some embodiments, media pipeline 316 additionallyincludes a thread spawning unit to spawn threads for execution on3D/Media sub-system 315. The spawned threads perform computations forthe media operations on one or more graphics execution units included in3D/Media sub-system 315.

In some embodiments, 3D/Media sub-system 315 includes logic forexecuting threads spawned by 3D pipeline 312 and media pipeline 316. Inone embodiment, the pipelines send thread execution requests to 3D/Mediasub-system 315, which includes thread dispatch logic for arbitrating anddispatching the various requests to available thread executionresources. The execution resources include an array of graphicsexecution units to process the 3D and media threads. In someembodiments, 3D/Media sub-system 315 includes one or more internalcaches for thread instructions and data. In some embodiments, thesubsystem also includes shared memory, including registers andaddressable memory, to share data between threads and to store outputdata.

Graphics Processing Engine

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a graphics processing engine 410 of agraphics processor in accordance with some embodiments. In oneembodiment, the graphics processing engine (GPE) 410 is a version of theGPE 310 shown in FIG. 3. Elements of FIG. 4 having the same referencenumbers (or names) as the elements of any other figure herein canoperate or function in any manner similar to that described elsewhereherein, but are not limited to such. For example, the 3D pipeline 312and media pipeline 316 of FIG. 3 are illustrated. The media pipeline 316is optional in some embodiments of the GPE 410 and may not be explicitlyincluded within the GPE 410. For example, in at least one embodiment aseparate media and/or image processor is coupled to the GPE 410.

In some embodiments, GPE 410 couples with or includes a command streamer403, which provides a command stream to the 3D pipeline 312 and/or mediapipelines 316. In some embodiments, command streamer 403 is coupled withmemory, which can be system memory, or one or more of internal cachememory and shared cache memory. In some embodiments, command streamer403 receives commands from the memory and sends the commands to 3Dpipeline 312 and/or media pipeline 316. The commands are directivesfetched from a ring buffer, which stores commands for the 3D pipeline312 and media pipeline 316. In one embodiment, the ring buffer canadditionally include batch command buffers storing batches of multiplecommands. The commands for the 3D pipeline 312 can also includereferences to data stored in memory, such as but not limited to vertexand geometry data for the 3D pipeline 312 and/or image data and memoryobjects for the media pipeline 316. The 3D pipeline 312 and mediapipeline 316 process the commands and data by performing operations vialogic within the respective pipelines or by dispatching one or moreexecution threads to a graphics core array 414. In one embodiment thegraphics core array 414 include one or more blocks of graphics cores(e.g., graphics core(s) 415A, graphics core(s) 415B), each blockincluding one or more graphics cores. Each graphics core includes a setof graphics execution resources that includes general-purpose andgraphics specific execution logic to perform graphics and computeoperations, as well as fixed function texture processing and/or machinelearning and artificial intelligence acceleration logic.

In various embodiments the 3D pipeline 312 includes fixed function andprogrammable logic to process one or more shader programs, such asvertex shaders, geometry shaders, pixel shaders, fragment shaders,compute shaders, or other shader programs, by processing theinstructions and dispatching execution threads to the graphics corearray 414. The graphics core array 414 provides a unified block ofexecution resources for use in processing these shader programs.Multi-purpose execution logic (e.g., execution units) within thegraphics core(s) 415A-414B of the graphics core array 414 includessupport for various 3D API shader languages and can execute multiplesimultaneous execution threads associated with multiple shaders.

In some embodiments the graphics core array 414 also includes executionlogic to perform media functions, such as video and/or image processing.In one embodiment, the execution units additionally includegeneral-purpose logic that is programmable to perform parallelgeneral-purpose computational operations, in addition to graphicsprocessing operations. The general-purpose logic can perform processingoperations in parallel or in conjunction with general-purpose logicwithin the processor core(s) 107 of FIG. 1 or core 202A-202N as in FIG.2.

Output data generated by threads executing on the graphics core array414 can output data to memory in a unified return buffer (URB) 418. TheURB 418 can store data for multiple threads. In some embodiments the URB418 may be used to send data between different threads executing on thegraphics core array 414. In some embodiments the URB 418 mayadditionally be used for synchronization between threads on the graphicscore array and fixed function logic within the shared function logic420.

In some embodiments, graphics core array 414 is scalable, such that thearray includes a variable number of graphics cores, each having avariable number of execution units based on the target power andperformance level of GPE 410. In one embodiment the execution resourcesare dynamically scalable, such that execution resources may be enabledor disabled as needed.

The graphics core array 414 couples with shared function logic 420 thatincludes multiple resources that are shared between the graphics coresin the graphics core array. The shared functions within the sharedfunction logic 420 are hardware logic units that provide specializedsupplemental functionality to the graphics core array 414. In variousembodiments, shared function logic 420 includes but is not limited tosampler 421, math 422, and inter-thread communication (ITC) 423 logic.Additionally, some embodiments implement one or more cache(s) 425 withinthe shared function logic 420.

A shared function is implemented where the demand for a givenspecialized function is insufficient for inclusion within the graphicscore array 414. Instead a single instantiation of that specializedfunction is implemented as a stand-alone entity in the shared functionlogic 420 and shared among the execution resources within the graphicscore array 414. The precise set of functions that are shared between thegraphics core array 414 and included within the graphics core array 414varies across embodiments. In some embodiments, specific sharedfunctions within the shared function logic 420 that are used extensivelyby the graphics core array 414 may be included within shared functionlogic 416 within the graphics core array 414. In various embodiments,the shared function logic 416 within the graphics core array 414 caninclude some or all logic within the shared function logic 420. In oneembodiment, all logic elements within the shared function logic 420 maybe duplicated within the shared function logic 416 of the graphics corearray 414. In one embodiment the shared function logic 420 is excludedin favor of the shared function logic 416 within the graphics core array414.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of hardware logic of a graphics processor core500, according to some embodiments described herein. Elements of FIG. 5having the same reference numbers (or names) as the elements of anyother figure herein can operate or function in any manner similar tothat described elsewhere herein, but are not limited to such. Theillustrated graphics processor core 500, in some embodiments, isincluded within the graphics core array 414 of FIG. 4. The graphicsprocessor core 500, sometimes referred to as a core slice, can be one ormultiple graphics cores within a modular graphics processor. Thegraphics processor core 500 is exemplary of one graphics core slice, anda graphics processor as described herein may include multiple graphicscore slices based on target power and performance envelopes. Eachgraphics core 500 can include a fixed function block 530 coupled withmultiple sub-cores 501A-501F, also referred to as sub-slices, thatinclude modular blocks of general-purpose and fixed function logic.

In some embodiments the fixed function block 530 includes ageometry/fixed function pipeline 536 that can be shared by all sub-coresin the graphics processor 500, for example, in lower performance and/orlower power graphics processor implementations. In various embodiments,the geometry/fixed function pipeline 536 includes a 3D fixed functionpipeline (e.g., 3D pipeline 312 as in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4) a videofront-end unit, a thread spawner and thread dispatcher, and a unifiedreturn buffer manager, which manages unified return buffers, such as theunified return buffer 418 of FIG. 4.

In one embodiment the fixed function block 530 also includes a graphicsSoC interface 537, a graphics microcontroller 538, and a media pipeline539. The graphics SoC interface 537 provides an interface between thegraphics core 500 and other processor cores within a system on a chipintegrated circuit. The graphics microcontroller 538 is a programmablesub-processor that is configurable to manage various functions of thegraphics processor 500, including thread dispatch, scheduling, andpre-emption. The media pipeline 539 (e.g., media pipeline 316 of FIG. 3and FIG. 4) includes logic to facilitate the decoding, encoding,pre-processing, and/or post-processing of multimedia data, includingimage and video data. The media pipeline 539 implement media operationsvia requests to compute or sampling logic within the sub-cores 501-501F.

In one embodiment the SoC interface 537 enables the graphics core 500 tocommunicate with general-purpose application processor cores (e.g.,CPUs) and/or other components within an SoC, including memory hierarchyelements such as a shared last level cache memory, the system RAM,and/or embedded on-chip or on-package DRAM. The SoC interface 537 canalso enable communication with fixed function devices within the SoC,such as camera imaging pipelines, and enables the use of and/orimplements global memory atomics that may be shared between the graphicscore 500 and CPUs within the SoC. The SoC interface 537 can alsoimplement power management controls for the graphics core 500 and enablean interface between a clock domain of the graphic core 500 and otherclock domains within the SoC. In one embodiment the SoC interface 537enables receipt of command buffers from a command streamer and globalthread dispatcher that are configured to provide commands andinstructions to each of one or more graphics cores within a graphicsprocessor. The commands and instructions can be dispatched to the mediapipeline 539, when media operations are to be performed, or a geometryand fixed function pipeline (e.g., geometry and fixed function pipeline536, geometry and fixed function pipeline 514) when graphics processingoperations are to be performed.

The graphics microcontroller 538 can be configured to perform variousscheduling and management tasks for the graphics core 500. In oneembodiment the graphics microcontroller 538 can perform graphics and/orcompute workload scheduling on the various graphics parallel engineswithin execution unit (EU) arrays 502A-502F, 504A-504F within thesub-cores 501A-501F. In this scheduling model, host software executingon a CPU core of an SoC including the graphics core 500 can submitworkloads one of multiple graphic processor doorbells, which invokes ascheduling operation on the appropriate graphics engine. Schedulingoperations include determining which workload to run next, submitting aworkload to a command streamer, pre-empting existing workloads runningon an engine, monitoring progress of a workload, and notifying hostsoftware when a workload is complete. In one embodiment the graphicsmicrocontroller 538 can also facilitate low-power or idle states for thegraphics core 500, providing the graphics core 500 with the ability tosave and restore registers within the graphics core 500 across low-powerstate transitions independently from the operating system and/orgraphics driver software on the system.

The graphics core 500 may have greater than or fewer than theillustrated sub-cores 501A-501F, up to N modular sub-cores. For each setof N sub-cores, the graphics core 500 can also include shared functionlogic 510, shared and/or cache memory 512, a geometry/fixed functionpipeline 514, as well as additional fixed function logic 516 toaccelerate various graphics and compute processing operations. Theshared function logic 510 can include logic units associated with theshared function logic 420 of FIG. 4 (e.g., sampler, math, and/orinter-thread communication logic) that can be shared by each N sub-coreswithin the graphics core 500. The shared and/or cache memory 512 can bea last-level cache for the set of N sub-cores 501A-501F within thegraphics core 500, and can also serve as shared memory that isaccessible by multiple sub-cores. The geometry/fixed function pipeline514 can be included instead of the geometry/fixed function pipeline 536within the fixed function block 530 and can include the same or similarlogic units.

In one embodiment the graphics core 500 includes additional fixedfunction logic 516 that can include various fixed function accelerationlogic for use by the graphics core 500. In one embodiment the additionalfixed function logic 516 includes an additional geometry pipeline foruse in position only shading. In position-only shading, two geometrypipelines exist, the full geometry pipeline within the geometry/fixedfunction pipeline 516, 536, and a cull pipeline, which is an additionalgeometry pipeline which may be included within the additional fixedfunction logic 516. In one embodiment the cull pipeline is a trimmeddown version of the full geometry pipeline. The full pipeline and thecull pipeline can execute different instances of the same application,each instance having a separate context. Position only shading can hidelong cull runs of discarded triangles, enabling shading to be completedearlier in some instances. For example, in one embodiment the cullpipeline logic within the additional fixed function logic 516 canexecute position shaders in parallel with the main application andgenerally generates critical results faster than the full pipeline, asthe cull pipeline fetches and shades only the position attribute of thevertices, without performing rasterization and rendering of the pixelsto the frame buffer. The cull pipeline can use the generated criticalresults to compute visibility information for all the triangles withoutregard to whether those triangles are culled. The full pipeline (whichin this instance may be referred to as a replay pipeline) can consumethe visibility information to skip the culled triangles to shade onlythe visible triangles that are finally passed to the rasterizationphase.

In one embodiment the additional fixed function logic 516 can alsoinclude machine-learning acceleration logic, such as fixed functionmatrix multiplication logic, for implementations including optimizationsfor machine learning training or inferencing.

Within each graphics sub-core 501A-501F includes a set of executionresources that may be used to perform graphics, media, and computeoperations in response to requests by graphics pipeline, media pipeline,or shader programs. The graphics sub-cores 501A-501F include multiple EUarrays 502A-502F, 504A-504F, thread dispatch and inter-threadcommunication (TD/IC) logic 503A-503F, a 3D (e.g., texture) sampler505A-505F, a media sampler 506A-506F, a shader processor 507A-507F, andshared local memory (SLM) 508A-508F. The EU arrays 502A-502F, 504A-504Feach include multiple execution units, which are general-purposegraphics processing units capable of performing floating-point andinteger/fixed-point logic operations in service of a graphics, media, orcompute operation, including graphics, media, or compute shaderprograms. The TD/IC logic 503A-503F performs local thread dispatch andthread control operations for the execution units within a sub-core andfacilitate communication between threads executing on the executionunits of the sub-core. The 3D sampler 505A-505F can read texture orother 3D graphics related data into memory. The 3D sampler can readtexture data differently based on a configured sample state and thetexture format associated with a given texture. The media sampler506A-506F can perform similar read operations based on the type andformat associated with media data. In one embodiment, each graphicssub-core 501A-501F can alternately include a unified 3D and mediasampler. Threads executing on the execution units within each of thesub-cores 501A-501F can make use of shared local memory 508A-508F withineach sub-core, to enable threads executing within a thread group toexecute using a common pool of on-chip memory.

Execution Units

FIG. 6A-6B illustrate thread execution logic 600 including an array ofprocessing elements employed in a graphics processor core according toembodiments described herein. Elements of FIG. 6A-6B having the samereference numbers (or names) as the elements of any other figure hereincan operate or function in any manner similar to that describedelsewhere herein, but are not limited to such. FIG. 6A illustrates anoverview of thread execution logic 600, which can include a variant ofthe hardware logic illustrated with each sub-core 501A-501F of FIG. 5.FIG. 6B illustrates exemplary internal details of an execution unit.

As illustrated in FIG. 6A, in some embodiments thread execution logic600 includes a shader processor 602, a thread dispatcher 604,instruction cache 606, a scalable execution unit array including aplurality of execution units 608A-608N, a sampler 610, a data cache 612,and a data port 614. In one embodiment the scalable execution unit arraycan dynamically scale by enabling or disabling one or more executionunits (e.g., any of execution unit 608A, 608B, 608C, 608D, through608N−1 and 608N) based on the computational requirements of a workload.In one embodiment the included components are interconnected via aninterconnect fabric that links to each of the components. In someembodiments, thread execution logic 600 includes one or more connectionsto memory, such as system memory or cache memory, through one or more ofinstruction cache 606, data port 614, sampler 610, and execution units608A-608N. In some embodiments, each execution unit (e.g. 608A) is astand-alone programmable general-purpose computational unit that iscapable of executing multiple simultaneous hardware threads whileprocessing multiple data elements in parallel for each thread. Invarious embodiments, the array of execution units 608A-608N is scalableto include any number individual execution units.

In some embodiments, the execution units 608A-608N are primarily used toexecute shader programs. A shader processor 602 can process the variousshader programs and dispatch execution threads associated with theshader programs via a thread dispatcher 604. In one embodiment thethread dispatcher includes logic to arbitrate thread initiation requestsfrom the graphics and media pipelines and instantiate the requestedthreads on one or more execution unit in the execution units 608A-608N.For example, a geometry pipeline can dispatch vertex, tessellation, orgeometry shaders to the thread execution logic for processing. In someembodiments, thread dispatcher 604 can also process runtime threadspawning requests from the executing shader programs.

In some embodiments, the execution units 608A-608N support aninstruction set that includes native support for many standard 3Dgraphics shader instructions, such that shader programs from graphicslibraries (e.g., Direct 3D and OpenGL) are executed with a minimaltranslation. The execution units support vertex and geometry processing(e.g., vertex programs, geometry programs, vertex shaders), pixelprocessing (e.g., pixel shaders, fragment shaders) and general-purposeprocessing (e.g., compute and media shaders). Each of the executionunits 608A-608N is capable of multi-issue single instruction multipledata (SIMD) execution and multi-threaded operation enables an efficientexecution environment in the face of higher latency memory accesses.Each hardware thread within each execution unit has a dedicatedhigh-bandwidth register file and associated independent thread-state.Execution is multi-issue per clock to pipelines capable of integer,single and double precision floating point operations, SIMD branchcapability, logical operations, transcendental operations, and othermiscellaneous operations. While waiting for data from memory or one ofthe shared functions, dependency logic within the execution units608A-608N causes a waiting thread to sleep until the requested data hasbeen returned. While the waiting thread is sleeping, hardware resourcesmay be devoted to processing other threads. For example, during a delayassociated with a vertex shader operation, an execution unit can performoperations for a pixel shader, fragment shader, or another type ofshader program, including a different vertex shader.

Each execution unit in execution units 608A-608N operates on arrays ofdata elements. The number of data elements is the “execution size,” orthe number of channels for the instruction. An execution channel is alogical unit of execution for data element access, masking, and flowcontrol within instructions. The number of channels may be independentof the number of physical Arithmetic Logic Units (ALUs) or FloatingPoint Units (FPUs) for a particular graphics processor. In someembodiments, execution units 608A-608N support integer andfloating-point data types.

The execution unit instruction set includes SIMD instructions. Thevarious data elements can be stored as a packed data type in a registerand the execution unit will process the various elements based on thedata size of the elements. For example, when operating on a 256-bit widevector, the 256 bits of the vector are stored in a register and theexecution unit operates on the vector as four separate 64-bit packeddata elements (Quad-Word (QW) size data elements), eight separate 32-bitpacked data elements (Double Word (DW) size data elements), sixteenseparate 16-bit packed data elements (Word (W) size data elements), orthirty-two separate 8-bit data elements (byte (B) size data elements).However, different vector widths and register sizes are possible.

In one embodiment one or more execution units can be combined into afused execution unit 609A-609N having thread control logic (607A-607N)that is common to the fused EUs. Multiple EUs can be fused into an EUgroup. Each EU in the fused EU group can be configured to execute aseparate SIMD hardware thread. The number of EUs in a fused EU group canvary according to embodiments. Additionally, various SIMD widths can beperformed per-EU, including but not limited to SIMD8, SIMD16, andSIMD32. Each fused graphics execution unit 609A-609N includes at leasttwo execution units. For example, fused execution unit 609A includes afirst EU 608A, second EU 608B, and thread control logic 607A that iscommon to the first EU 608A and the second EU 608B. The thread controllogic 607A controls threads executed on the fused graphics executionunit 609A, allowing each EU within the fused execution units 609A-609Nto execute using a common instruction pointer register.

One or more internal instruction caches (e.g., 606) are included in thethread execution logic 600 to cache thread instructions for theexecution units. In some embodiments, one or more data caches (e.g.,612) are included to cache thread data during thread execution. In someembodiments, a sampler 610 is included to provide texture sampling for3D operations and media sampling for media operations. In someembodiments, sampler 610 includes specialized texture or media samplingfunctionality to process texture or media data during the samplingprocess before providing the sampled data to an execution unit.

During execution, the graphics and media pipelines send threadinitiation requests to thread execution logic 600 via thread spawningand dispatch logic. Once a group of geometric objects has been processedand rasterized into pixel data, pixel processor logic (e.g., pixelshader logic, fragment shader logic, etc.) within the shader processor602 is invoked to further compute output information and cause resultsto be written to output surfaces (e.g., color buffers, depth buffers,stencil buffers, etc.). In some embodiments, a pixel shader or fragmentshader calculates the values of the various vertex attributes that areto be interpolated across the rasterized object. In some embodiments,pixel processor logic within the shader processor 602 then executes anapplication programming interface (API)-supplied pixel or fragmentshader program. To execute the shader program, the shader processor 602dispatches threads to an execution unit (e.g., 608A) via threaddispatcher 604. In some embodiments, shader processor 602 uses texturesampling logic in the sampler 610 to access texture data in texture mapsstored in memory. Arithmetic operations on the texture data and theinput geometry data compute pixel color data for each geometric fragmentor discards one or more pixels from further processing.

In some embodiments, the data port 614 provides a memory accessmechanism for the thread execution logic 600 to output processed data tomemory for further processing on a graphics processor output pipeline.In some embodiments, the data port 614 includes or couples to one ormore cache memories (e.g., data cache 612) to cache data for memoryaccess via the data port.

As illustrated in FIG. 6B, a graphics execution unit 608 can include aninstruction fetch unit 637, a general register file array (GRF) 624, anarchitectural register file array (ARF) 626, a thread arbiter 622, asend unit 630, a branch unit 632, a set of SIMD floating point units(FPUs) 634, and in one embodiment a set of dedicated integer SIMD ALUs635. The GRF 624 and ARF 626 includes the set of general register filesand architecture register files associated with each simultaneoushardware thread that may be active in the graphics execution unit 608.In one embodiment, per thread architectural state is maintained in theARF 626, while data used during thread execution is stored in the GRF624. The execution state of each thread, including the instructionpointers for each thread, can be held in thread-specific registers inthe ARF 626.

In one embodiment the graphics execution unit 608 has an architecturethat is a combination of Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT) andfine-grained Interleaved Multi-Threading (IMT). The architecture has amodular configuration that can be fine-tuned at design time based on atarget number of simultaneous threads and number of registers perexecution unit, where execution unit resources are divided across logicused to execute multiple simultaneous threads.

In one embodiment, the graphics execution unit 608 can co-issue multipleinstructions, which may each be different instructions. The threadarbiter 622 of the graphics execution unit thread 608 can dispatch theinstructions to one of the send unit 630, branch unit 632, or SIMDFPU(s) 634 for execution. Each execution thread can access 128general-purpose registers within the GRF 624, where each register canstore 32 bytes, accessible as a SIMD 8-element vector of 32-bit dataelements. In one embodiment, each execution unit thread has access to 4Kbytes within the GRF 624, although embodiments are not so limited, andgreater or fewer register resources may be provided in otherembodiments. In one embodiment up to seven threads can executesimultaneously, although the number of threads per execution unit canalso vary according to embodiments. In an embodiment in which seventhreads may access 4 Kbytes, the GRF 624 can store a total of 28 Kbytes.Flexible addressing modes can permit registers to be addressed togetherto build effectively wider registers or to represent strided rectangularblock data structures.

In one embodiment, memory operations, sampler operations, and otherlonger-latency system communications are dispatched via “send”instructions that are executed by the message passing send unit 630. Inone embodiment, branch instructions are dispatched to a dedicated branchunit 632 to facilitate SIMD divergence and eventual convergence.

In one embodiment the graphics execution unit 608 includes one or moreSIMD floating point units (FPU(s)) 634 to perform floating-pointoperations. In one embodiment, the FPU(s) 634 also support integercomputation. In one embodiment the FPU(s) 634 can SIMD execute up to Mnumber of 32-bit floating-point (or integer) operations, or SIMD executeup to 2M 16-bit integer or 16-bit floating-point operations. In oneembodiment, at least one of the FPU(s) provides extended math capabilityto support high-throughput transcendental math functions and doubleprecision 64-bit floating-point. In some embodiments, a set of 8-bitinteger SIMD ALUs 635 are also present, and may be specificallyoptimized to perform operations associated with machine learningcomputations.

In one embodiment, arrays of multiple instances of the graphicsexecution unit 608 can be instantiated in a graphics sub-core grouping(e.g., a sub-slice). For scalability, product architects can choose theexact number of execution units per sub-core grouping. In one embodimentthe execution unit 608 can execute instructions across a plurality ofexecution channels. In a further embodiment, each thread executed on thegraphics execution unit 608 is executed on a different channel.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a graphics processor instructionformats 700 according to some embodiments. In one or more embodiment,the graphics processor execution units support an instruction set havinginstructions in multiple formats. The solid lined boxes illustrate thecomponents that are generally included in an execution unit instruction,while the dashed lines include components that are optional or that areonly included in a sub-set of the instructions. In some embodiments,instruction format 700 described and illustrated are macro-instructions,in that they are instructions supplied to the execution unit, as opposedto micro-operations resulting from instruction decode once theinstruction is processed.

In some embodiments, the graphics processor execution units nativelysupport instructions in a 128-bit instruction format 710. A 64-bitcompacted instruction format 730 is available for some instructionsbased on the selected instruction, instruction options, and number ofoperands. The native 128-bit instruction format 710 provides access toall instruction options, while some options and operations arerestricted in the 64-bit format 730. The native instructions availablein the 64-bit format 730 vary by embodiment. In some embodiments, theinstruction is compacted in part using a set of index values in an indexfield 713. The execution unit hardware references a set of compactiontables based on the index values and uses the compaction table outputsto reconstruct a native instruction in the 128-bit instruction format710.

For each format, instruction opcode 712 defines the operation that theexecution unit is to perform. The execution units execute eachinstruction in parallel across the multiple data elements of eachoperand. For example, in response to an add instruction the executionunit performs a simultaneous add operation across each color channelrepresenting a texture element or picture element. By default, theexecution unit performs each instruction across all data channels of theoperands. In some embodiments, instruction control field 714 enablescontrol over certain execution options, such as channels selection(e.g., predication) and data channel order (e.g., swizzle). Forinstructions in the 128-bit instruction format 710 an exec-size field716 limits the number of data channels that will be executed inparallel. In some embodiments, exec-size field 716 is not available foruse in the 64-bit compact instruction format 730.

Some execution unit instructions have up to three operands including twosource operands, src0 720, src1 722, and one destination 718. In someembodiments, the execution units support dual destination instructions,where one of the destinations is implied. Data manipulation instructionscan have a third source operand (e.g., SRC2 724), where the instructionopcode 712 determines the number of source operands. An instruction'slast source operand can be an immediate (e.g., hard-coded) value passedwith the instruction.

In some embodiments, the 128-bit instruction format 710 includes anaccess/address mode field 726 specifying, for example, whether directregister addressing mode or indirect register addressing mode is used.When direct register addressing mode is used, the register address ofone or more operands is directly provided by bits in the instruction.

In some embodiments, the 128-bit instruction format 710 includes anaccess/address mode field 726, which specifies an address mode and/or anaccess mode for the instruction. In one embodiment the access mode isused to define a data access alignment for the instruction. Someembodiments support access modes including a 16-byte aligned access modeand a 1-byte aligned access mode, where the byte alignment of the accessmode determines the access alignment of the instruction operands. Forexample, when in a first mode, the instruction may use byte-alignedaddressing for source and destination operands and when in a secondmode, the instruction may use 16-byte-aligned addressing for all sourceand destination operands.

In one embodiment, the address mode portion of the access/address modefield 726 determines whether the instruction is to use direct orindirect addressing. When direct register addressing mode is used bitsin the instruction directly provide the register address of one or moreoperands. When indirect register addressing mode is used, the registeraddress of one or more operands may be computed based on an addressregister value and an address immediate field in the instruction.

In some embodiments instructions are grouped based on opcode 712bit-fields to simplify Opcode decode 740. For an 8-bit opcode, bits 4,5, and 6 allow the execution unit to determine the type of opcode. Theprecise opcode grouping shown is merely an example. In some embodiments,a move and logic opcode group 742 includes data movement and logicinstructions (e.g., move (mov), compare (cmp)). In some embodiments,move and logic group 742 shares the five most significant bits (MSB),where move (mov) instructions are in the form of 0000xxxxb and logicinstructions are in the form of 0001xxxxb. A flow control instructiongroup 744 (e.g., call, jump (jmp)) includes instructions in the form of0010xxxxb (e.g., 0x20). A miscellaneous instruction group 746 includes amix of instructions, including synchronization instructions (e.g., wait,send) in the form of 0011xxxxb (e.g., 0x30). A parallel math instructiongroup 748 includes component-wise arithmetic instructions (e.g., add,multiply (mul)) in the form of 0100xxxxb (e.g., 0x40). The parallel mathgroup 748 performs the arithmetic operations in parallel across datachannels. The vector math group 750 includes arithmetic instructions(e.g., dp4) in the form of 0101xxxxb (e.g., 0x50). The vector math groupperforms arithmetic such as dot product calculations on vector operands.

Graphics Pipeline

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a graphics processor800. Elements of FIG. 8 having the same reference numbers (or names) asthe elements of any other figure herein can operate or function in anymanner similar to that described elsewhere herein, but are not limitedto such.

In some embodiments, graphics processor 800 includes a geometry pipeline820, a media pipeline 830, a display engine 840, thread execution logic850, and a render output pipeline 870. In some embodiments, graphicsprocessor 800 is a graphics processor within a multi-core processingsystem that includes one or more general-purpose processing cores. Thegraphics processor is controlled by register writes to one or morecontrol registers (not shown) or via commands issued to graphicsprocessor 800 via a ring interconnect 802. In some embodiments, ringinterconnect 802 couples graphics processor 800 to other processingcomponents, such as other graphics processors or general-purposeprocessors. Commands from ring interconnect 802 are interpreted by acommand streamer 803, which supplies instructions to individualcomponents of the geometry pipeline 820 or the media pipeline 830.

In some embodiments, command streamer 803 directs the operation of avertex fetcher 805 that reads vertex data from memory and executesvertex-processing commands provided by command streamer 803. In someembodiments, vertex fetcher 805 provides vertex data to a vertex shader807, which performs coordinate space transformation and lightingoperations to each vertex. In some embodiments, vertex fetcher 805 andvertex shader 807 execute vertex-processing instructions by dispatchingexecution threads to execution units 852A-852B via a thread dispatcher831.

In some embodiments, execution units 852A-852B are an array of vectorprocessors having an instruction set for performing graphics and mediaoperations. In some embodiments, execution units 852A-852B have anattached L1 cache 851 that is specific for each array or shared betweenthe arrays. The cache can be configured as a data cache, an instructioncache, or a single cache that is partitioned to contain data andinstructions in different partitions.

In some embodiments, geometry pipeline 820 includes tessellationcomponents to perform hardware-accelerated tessellation of 3D objects.In some embodiments, a programmable hull shader 811 configures thetessellation operations. A programmable domain shader 817 providesback-end evaluation of tessellation output. A tessellator 813 operatesat the direction of hull shader 811 and contains special purpose logicto generate a set of detailed geometric objects based on a coarsegeometric model that is provided as input to geometry pipeline 820. Insome embodiments, if tessellation is not used, tessellation components(e.g., hull shader 811, tessellator 813, and domain shader 817) can bebypassed.

In some embodiments, complete geometric objects can be processed by ageometry shader 819 via one or more threads dispatched to executionunits 852A-852B, or can proceed directly to the clipper 829. In someembodiments, the geometry shader operates on entire geometric objects,rather than vertices or patches of vertices as in previous stages of thegraphics pipeline. If the tessellation is disabled, the geometry shader819 receives input from the vertex shader 807. In some embodiments,geometry shader 819 is programmable by a geometry shader program toperform geometry tessellation if the tessellation units are disabled.

Before rasterization, a clipper 829 processes vertex data. The clipper829 may be a fixed function clipper or a programmable clipper havingclipping and geometry shader functions. In some embodiments, arasterizer and depth test component 873 in the render output pipeline870 dispatches pixel shaders to convert the geometric objects into perpixel representations. In some embodiments, pixel shader logic isincluded in thread execution logic 850. In some embodiments, anapplication can bypass the rasterizer and depth test component 873 andaccess un-rasterized vertex data via a stream out unit 823.

The graphics processor 800 has an interconnect bus, interconnect fabric,or some other interconnect mechanism that allows data and messagepassing amongst the major components of the processor. In someembodiments, execution units 852A-852B and associated logic units (e.g.,L1 cache 851, sampler 854, texture cache 858, etc.) interconnect via adata port 856 to perform memory access and communicate with renderoutput pipeline components of the processor. In some embodiments,sampler 854, caches 851, 858 and execution units 852A-852B each haveseparate memory access paths. In one embodiment the texture cache 858can also be configured as a sampler cache.

In some embodiments, render output pipeline 870 contains a rasterizerand depth test component 873 that converts vertex-based objects into anassociated pixel-based representation. In some embodiments, therasterizer logic includes a windower/masker unit to perform fixedfunction triangle and line rasterization. An associated render cache 878and depth cache 879 are also available in some embodiments. A pixeloperations component 877 performs pixel-based operations on the data,though in some instances, pixel operations associated with 2D operations(e.g. bit block image transfers with blending) are performed by the 2Dengine 841, or substituted at display time by the display controller 843using overlay display planes. In some embodiments, a shared L3 cache 875is available to all graphics components, allowing the sharing of datawithout the use of main system memory.

In some embodiments, graphics processor media pipeline 830 includes amedia engine 837 and a video front-end 834. In some embodiments, videofront-end 834 receives pipeline commands from the command streamer 803.In some embodiments, media pipeline 830 includes a separate commandstreamer. In some embodiments, video front-end 834 processes mediacommands before sending the command to the media engine 837. In someembodiments, media engine 837 includes thread spawning functionality tospawn threads for dispatch to thread execution logic 850 via threaddispatcher 831.

In some embodiments, graphics processor 800 includes a display engine840. In some embodiments, display engine 840 is external to processor800 and couples with the graphics processor via the ring interconnect802, or some other interconnect bus or fabric. In some embodiments,display engine 840 includes a 2D engine 841 and a display controller843. In some embodiments, display engine 840 contains special purposelogic capable of operating independently of the 3D pipeline. In someembodiments, display controller 843 couples with a display device (notshown), which may be a system integrated display device, as in a laptopcomputer, or an external display device attached via a display deviceconnector.

In some embodiments, the geometry pipeline 820 and media pipeline 830are configurable to perform operations based on multiple graphics andmedia programming interfaces and are not specific to any one applicationprogramming interface (API). In some embodiments, driver software forthe graphics processor translates API calls that are specific to aparticular graphics or media library into commands that can be processedby the graphics processor. In some embodiments, support is provided forthe Open Graphics Library (OpenGL), Open Computing Language (OpenCL),and/or Vulkan graphics and compute API, all from the Khronos Group. Insome embodiments, support may also be provided for the Direct3D libraryfrom the Microsoft Corporation. In some embodiments, a combination ofthese libraries may be supported. Support may also be provided for theOpen Source Computer Vision Library (OpenCV). A future API with acompatible 3D pipeline would also be supported if a mapping can be madefrom the pipeline of the future API to the pipeline of the graphicsprocessor.

Graphics Pipeline Programming

FIG. 9A is a block diagram illustrating a graphics processor commandformat 900 according to some embodiments. FIG. 9B is a block diagramillustrating a graphics processor command sequence 910 according to anembodiment. The solid lined boxes in FIG. 9A illustrate the componentsthat are generally included in a graphics command while the dashed linesinclude components that are optional or that are only included in asub-set of the graphics commands. The exemplary graphics processorcommand format 900 of FIG. 9A includes data fields to identify a client902, a command operation code (opcode) 904, and data 906 for thecommand. A sub-opcode 905 and a command size 908 are also included insome commands.

In some embodiments, client 902 specifies the client unit of thegraphics device that processes the command data. In some embodiments, agraphics processor command parser examines the client field of eachcommand to condition the further processing of the command and route thecommand data to the appropriate client unit. In some embodiments, thegraphics processor client units include a memory interface unit, arender unit, a 2D unit, a 3D unit, and a media unit. Each client unithas a corresponding processing pipeline that processes the commands.Once the command is received by the client unit, the client unit readsthe opcode 904 and, if present, sub-opcode 905 to determine theoperation to perform. The client unit performs the command usinginformation in data field 906. For some commands an explicit commandsize 908 is expected to specify the size of the command. In someembodiments, the command parser automatically determines the size of atleast some of the commands based on the command opcode. In someembodiments commands are aligned via multiples of a double word.

The flow diagram in FIG. 9B illustrates an exemplary graphics processorcommand sequence 910. In some embodiments, software or firmware of adata processing system that features an embodiment of a graphicsprocessor uses a version of the command sequence shown to set up,execute, and terminate a set of graphics operations. A sample commandsequence is shown and described for purposes of example only asembodiments are not limited to these specific commands or to thiscommand sequence. Moreover, the commands may be issued as batch ofcommands in a command sequence, such that the graphics processor willprocess the sequence of commands in at least partially concurrence.

In some embodiments, the graphics processor command sequence 910 maybegin with a pipeline flush command 912 to cause any active graphicspipeline to complete the currently pending commands for the pipeline. Insome embodiments, the 3D pipeline 922 and the media pipeline 924 do notoperate concurrently. The pipeline flush is performed to cause theactive graphics pipeline to complete any pending commands. In responseto a pipeline flush, the command parser for the graphics processor willpause command processing until the active drawing engines completepending operations and the relevant read caches are invalidated.Optionally, any data in the render cache that is marked ‘dirty’ can beflushed to memory. In some embodiments, pipeline flush command 912 canbe used for pipeline synchronization or before placing the graphicsprocessor into a low power state.

In some embodiments, a pipeline select command 913 is used when acommand sequence requires the graphics processor to explicitly switchbetween pipelines. In some embodiments, a pipeline select command 913 isrequired only once within an execution context before issuing pipelinecommands unless the context is to issue commands for both pipelines. Insome embodiments, a pipeline flush command 912 is required immediatelybefore a pipeline switch via the pipeline select command 913.

In some embodiments, a pipeline control command 914 configures agraphics pipeline for operation and is used to program the 3D pipeline922 and the media pipeline 924. In some embodiments, pipeline controlcommand 914 configures the pipeline state for the active pipeline. Inone embodiment, the pipeline control command 914 is used for pipelinesynchronization and to clear data from one or more cache memories withinthe active pipeline before processing a batch of commands.

In some embodiments, commands for return buffer state 916 are used toconfigure a set of return buffers for the respective pipelines to writedata. Some pipeline operations require the allocation, selection, orconfiguration of one or more return buffers into which the operationswrite intermediate data during processing. In some embodiments, thegraphics processor also uses one or more return buffers to store outputdata and to perform cross thread communication. In some embodiments, thereturn buffer state 916 includes selecting the size and number of returnbuffers to use for a set of pipeline operations.

The remaining commands in the command sequence differ based on theactive pipeline for operations. Based on a pipeline determination 920,the command sequence is tailored to the 3D pipeline 922 beginning withthe 3D pipeline state 930 or the media pipeline 924 beginning at themedia pipeline state 940.

The commands to configure the 3D pipeline state 930 include 3D statesetting commands for vertex buffer state, vertex element state, constantcolor state, depth buffer state, and other state variables that are tobe configured before 3D primitive commands are processed. The values ofthese commands are determined at least in part based on the particular3D API in use. In some embodiments, 3D pipeline state 930 commands arealso able to selectively disable or bypass certain pipeline elements ifthose elements will not be used.

In some embodiments, 3D primitive 932 command is used to submit 3Dprimitives to be processed by the 3D pipeline. Commands and associatedparameters that are passed to the graphics processor via the 3Dprimitive 932 command are forwarded to the vertex fetch function in thegraphics pipeline. The vertex fetch function uses the 3D primitive 932command data to generate vertex data structures. The vertex datastructures are stored in one or more return buffers. In someembodiments, 3D primitive 932 command is used to perform vertexoperations on 3D primitives via vertex shaders. To process vertexshaders, 3D pipeline 922 dispatches shader execution threads to graphicsprocessor execution units.

In some embodiments, 3D pipeline 922 is triggered via an execute 934command or event. In some embodiments, a register write triggers commandexecution. In some embodiments execution is triggered via a ‘go’ or‘kick’ command in the command sequence. In one embodiment, commandexecution is triggered using a pipeline synchronization command to flushthe command sequence through the graphics pipeline. The 3D pipeline willperform geometry processing for the 3D primitives. Once operations arecomplete, the resulting geometric objects are rasterized and the pixelengine colors the resulting pixels. Additional commands to control pixelshading and pixel back end operations may also be included for thoseoperations.

In some embodiments, the graphics processor command sequence 910 followsthe media pipeline 924 path when performing media operations. Ingeneral, the specific use and manner of programming for the mediapipeline 924 depends on the media or compute operations to be performed.Specific media decode operations may be offloaded to the media pipelineduring media decode. In some embodiments, the media pipeline can also bebypassed, and media decode can be performed in whole or in part usingresources provided by one or more general-purpose processing cores. Inone embodiment, the media pipeline also includes elements forgeneral-purpose graphics processor unit (GPGPU) operations, where thegraphics processor is used to perform SIMD vector operations usingcomputational shader programs that are not explicitly related to therendering of graphics primitives.

In some embodiments, media pipeline 924 is configured in a similarmanner as the 3D pipeline 922. A set of commands to configure the mediapipeline state 940 are dispatched or placed into a command queue beforethe media object commands 942. In some embodiments, commands for themedia pipeline state 940 include data to configure the media pipelineelements that will be used to process the media objects. This includesdata to configure the video decode and video encode logic within themedia pipeline, such as encode or decode format. In some embodiments,commands for the media pipeline state 940 also support the use of one ormore pointers to “indirect” state elements that contain a batch of statesettings.

In some embodiments, media object commands 942 supply pointers to mediaobjects for processing by the media pipeline. The media objects includememory buffers containing video data to be processed. In someembodiments, all media pipeline states must be valid before issuing amedia object command 942. Once the pipeline state is configured andmedia object commands 942 are queued, the media pipeline 924 istriggered via an execute command 944 or an equivalent execute event(e.g., register write). Output from media pipeline 924 may then be postprocessed by operations provided by the 3D pipeline 922 or the mediapipeline 924. In some embodiments, GPGPU operations are configured andexecuted in a similar manner as media operations.

Graphics Software Architecture

FIG. 10 illustrates exemplary graphics software architecture for a dataprocessing system 1000 according to some embodiments. In someembodiments, software architecture includes a 3D graphics application1010, an operating system 1020, and at least one processor 1030. In someembodiments, processor 1030 includes a graphics processor 1032 and oneor more general-purpose processor core(s) 1034. The graphics application1010 and operating system 1020 each execute in the system memory 1050 ofthe data processing system.

In some embodiments, 3D graphics application 1010 contains one or moreshader programs including shader instructions 1012. The shader languageinstructions may be in a high-level shader language, such as the HighLevel Shader Language (HLSL) or the OpenGL Shader Language (GLSL). Theapplication also includes executable instructions 1014 in a machinelanguage suitable for execution by the general-purpose processor core1034. The application also includes graphics objects 1016 defined byvertex data.

In some embodiments, operating system 1020 is a Microsoft® Windows®operating system from the Microsoft Corporation, a proprietary UNIX-likeoperating system, or an open source UNIX-like operating system using avariant of the Linux kernel. The operating system 1020 can support agraphics API 1022 such as the Direct3D API, the OpenGL API, or theVulkan API. When the Direct3D API is in use, the operating system 1020uses a front-end shader compiler 1024 to compile any shader instructions1012 in HLSL into a lower-level shader language. The compilation may bea just-in-time (JIT) compilation or the application can perform shaderpre-compilation. In some embodiments, high-level shaders are compiledinto low-level shaders during the compilation of the 3D graphicsapplication 1010. In some embodiments, the shader instructions 1012 areprovided in an intermediate form, such as a version of the StandardPortable Intermediate Representation (SPIR) used by the Vulkan API.

In some embodiments, user mode graphics driver 1026 contains a back-endshader compiler 1027 to convert the shader instructions 1012 into ahardware specific representation. When the OpenGL API is in use, shaderinstructions 1012 in the GLSL high-level language are passed to a usermode graphics driver 1026 for compilation. In some embodiments, usermode graphics driver 1026 uses operating system kernel mode functions1028 to communicate with a kernel mode graphics driver 1029. In someembodiments, kernel mode graphics driver 1029 communicates with graphicsprocessor 1032 to dispatch commands and instructions.

IP Core Implementations

One or more aspects of at least one embodiment may be implemented byrepresentative code stored on a machine-readable medium which representsand/or defines logic within an integrated circuit such as a processor.For example, the machine-readable medium may include instructions whichrepresent various logic within the processor. When read by a machine,the instructions may cause the machine to fabricate the logic to performthe techniques described herein. Such representations, known as “IPcores,” are reusable units of logic for an integrated circuit that maybe stored on a tangible, machine-readable medium as a hardware modelthat describes the structure of the integrated circuit. The hardwaremodel may be supplied to various customers or manufacturing facilities,which load the hardware model on fabrication machines that manufacturethe integrated circuit. The integrated circuit may be fabricated suchthat the circuit performs operations described in association with anyof the embodiments described herein.

FIG. 11A is a block diagram illustrating an IP core development system1100 that may be used to manufacture an integrated circuit to performoperations according to an embodiment. The IP core development system1100 may be used to generate modular, re-usable designs that can beincorporated into a larger design or used to construct an entireintegrated circuit (e.g., an SOC integrated circuit). A design facility1130 can generate a software simulation 1110 of an IP core design in ahigh-level programming language (e.g., C/C++). The software simulation1110 can be used to design, test, and verify the behavior of the IP coreusing a simulation model 1112. The simulation model 1112 may includefunctional, behavioral, and/or timing simulations. A register transferlevel (RTL) design 1115 can then be created or synthesized from thesimulation model 1112. The RTL design 1115 is an abstraction of thebehavior of the integrated circuit that models the flow of digitalsignals between hardware registers, including the associated logicperformed using the modeled digital signals. In addition to an RTLdesign 1115, lower-level designs at the logic level or transistor levelmay also be created, designed, or synthesized. Thus, the particulardetails of the initial design and simulation may vary.

The RTL design 1115 or equivalent may be further synthesized by thedesign facility into a hardware model 1120, which may be in a hardwaredescription language (HDL), or some other representation of physicaldesign data. The HDL may be further simulated or tested to verify the IPcore design. The IP core design can be stored for delivery to a 3^(rd)party fabrication facility 1165 using non-volatile memory 1140 (e.g.,hard disk, flash memory, or any non-volatile storage medium).Alternatively, the IP core design may be transmitted (e.g., via theInternet) over a wired connection 1150 or wireless connection 1160. Thefabrication facility 1165 may then fabricate an integrated circuit thatis based at least in part on the IP core design. The fabricatedintegrated circuit can be configured to perform operations in accordancewith at least one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 11B illustrates a cross-section side view of an integrated circuitpackage assembly 1170, according to some embodiments described herein.The integrated circuit package assembly 1170 illustrates animplementation of one or more processor or accelerator devices asdescribed herein. The package assembly 1170 includes multiple units ofhardware logic 1172, 1174 connected to a substrate 1180. The logic 1172,1174 may be implemented at least partly in configurable logic orfixed-functionality logic hardware and can include one or more portionsof any of the processor core(s), graphics processor(s), or otheraccelerator devices described herein. Each unit of logic 1172, 1174 canbe implemented within a semiconductor die and coupled with the substrate1180 via an interconnect structure 1173. The interconnect structure 1173may be configured to route electrical signals between the logic 1172,1174 and substrate 1180, and can include interconnects such as, but notlimited to bumps or pillars. In some embodiments, the interconnectstructure 1173 may be configured to route electrical signals such as,for example, input/output (110) signals and/or power or ground signalsassociated with the operation of the logic 1172, 1174. In someembodiments, the substrate 1180 is an epoxy-based laminate substrate.The package assembly 1170 may include other suitable types of substratesin other embodiments. The package assembly 1170 can be connected toother electrical devices via a package interconnect 1183. The packageinterconnect 1183 may be coupled to a surface of the substrate 1180 toroute electrical signals to other electrical devices, such as amotherboard, other chipset, or multi-chip module.

In some embodiments, the units of logic 1172, 1174 are electricallycoupled with a bridge 1182 that is configured to route electricalsignals between the logic 1172, 1174. The bridge 1182 may be a denseinterconnect structure that provides a route for electrical signals. Thebridge 1182 may include a bridge substrate composed of glass or asuitable semiconductor material. Electrical routing features can beformed on the bridge substrate to provide a chip-to-chip connectionbetween the logic 1172, 1174.

Although two units of logic 1172, 1174 and a bridge 1182 areillustrated, embodiments described herein may include more or fewerlogic units on one or more dies. The one or more dies may be connectedby zero or more bridges, as the bridge 1182 may be excluded when thelogic is included on a single die. Alternatively, multiple dies or unitsof logic can be connected by one or more bridges. Additionally, multiplelogic units, dies, and bridges can be connected together in otherpossible configurations, including three-dimensional configurations.

Exemplary System on a Chip Integrated Circuit

FIG. 12, FIG. 13A-13B, and FIG. 14A-14B illustrated exemplary integratedcircuits and associated graphics processors that may be fabricated usingone or more IP cores, according to various embodiments described herein.In addition to what is illustrated, other logic and circuits may beincluded, including additional graphics processors/cores, peripheralinterface controllers, or general-purpose processor cores.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system on a chipintegrated circuit 1200 that may be fabricated using one or more IPcores, according to an embodiment. Exemplary integrated circuit 1200includes one or more application processor(s) 1205 (e.g., CPUs), atleast one graphics processor 1210, and may additionally include an imageprocessor 1215 and/or a video processor 1220, any of which may be amodular IP core from the same or multiple different design facilities.Integrated circuit 1200 includes peripheral or bus logic including a USBcontroller 1225, UART controller 1230, an SPI/SDIO controller 1235, andan I²S/I²C controller 1240. Additionally, the integrated circuit caninclude a display device 1245 coupled to one or more of ahigh-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) controller 1250 and a mobileindustry processor interface (MIPI) display interface 1255. Storage maybe provided by a flash memory subsystem 1260 including flash memory anda flash memory controller. Memory interface may be provided via a memorycontroller 1265 for access to SDRAM or SRAM memory devices. Someintegrated circuits additionally include an embedded security engine1270.

FIG. 13A-13B are block diagrams illustrating exemplary graphicsprocessors for use within an SoC, according to embodiments describedherein. FIG. 13A illustrates an exemplary graphics processor 1310 of asystem on a chip integrated circuit that may be fabricated using one ormore IP cores, according to an embodiment. FIG. 13B illustrates anadditional exemplary graphics processor 1340 of a system on a chipintegrated circuit that may be fabricated using one or more IP cores,according to an embodiment. Graphics processor 1310 of FIG. 13A is anexample of a low power graphics processor core. Graphics processor 1340of FIG. 13B is an example of a higher performance graphics processorcore. Each of the graphics processors 1310, 1340 can be variants of thegraphics processor 1210 of FIG. 12.

As shown in FIG. 13A, graphics processor 1310 includes a vertexprocessor 1305 and one or more fragment processor(s) 1315A-1315N (e.g.,1315A, 1315B, 1315C, 1315D, through 1315N-1, and 1315N). Graphicsprocessor 1310 can execute different shader programs via separate logic,such that the vertex processor 1305 is optimized to execute operationsfor vertex shader programs, while the one or more fragment processor(s)1315A-1315N execute fragment (e.g., pixel) shading operations forfragment or pixel shader programs. The vertex processor 1305 performsthe vertex processing stage of the 3D graphics pipeline and generatesprimitives and vertex data. The fragment processor(s) 1315A-1315N usethe primitive and vertex data generated by the vertex processor 1305 toproduce a framebuffer that is displayed on a display device. In oneembodiment, the fragment processor(s) 1315A-1315N are optimized toexecute fragment shader programs as provided for in the OpenGL API,which may be used to perform similar operations as a pixel shaderprogram as provided for in the Direct 3D API.

Graphics processor 1310 additionally includes one or more memorymanagement units (MMUs) 1320A-1320B, cache(s) 1325A-1325B, and circuitinterconnect(s) 1330A-1330B. The one or more MMU(s) 1320A-1320B providefor virtual to physical address mapping for the graphics processor 1310,including for the vertex processor 1305 and/or fragment processor(s)1315A-1315N, which may reference vertex or image/texture data stored inmemory, in addition to vertex or image/texture data stored in the one ormore cache(s) 1325A-1325B. In one embodiment the one or more MMU(s)1320A-1320B may be synchronized with other MMUs within the system,including one or more MMUs associated with the one or more applicationprocessor(s) 1205, image processor 1215, and/or video processor 1220 ofFIG. 12, such that each processor 1205-1220 can participate in a sharedor unified virtual memory system. The one or more circuitinterconnect(s) 1330A-1330B enable graphics processor 1310 to interfacewith other IP cores within the SoC, either via an internal bus of theSoC or via a direct connection, according to embodiments.

As shown FIG. 13B, graphics processor 1340 includes the one or moreMMU(s) 1320A-1320B, cache(s) 1325A-1325B, and circuit interconnect(s)1330A-1330B of the graphics processor 1310 of FIG. 13A. Graphicsprocessor 1340 includes one or more shader core(s) 1355A-1355N (e.g.,1355A, 1355B, 1355C, 1355D, 1355E, 1355F, through 1355N-1, and 1355N),which provides for a unified shader core architecture in which a singlecore or type or core can execute all types of programmable shader code,including shader program code to implement vertex shaders, fragmentshaders, and/or compute shaders. The exact number of shader corespresent can vary among embodiments and implementations. Additionally,graphics processor 1340 includes an inter-core task manager 1345, whichacts as a thread dispatcher to dispatch execution threads to one or moreshader cores 1355A-1355N and a tiling unit 1358 to accelerate tilingoperations for tile-based rendering, in which rendering operations for ascene are subdivided in image space, for example to exploit localspatial coherence within a scene or to optimize use of internal caches.

FIG. 14A-14B illustrate additional exemplary graphics processor logicaccording to embodiments described herein. FIG. 14A illustrates agraphics core 1400 that may be included within the graphics processor1210 of FIG. 12 and may be a unified shader core 1355A-1355N as in FIG.13B. FIG. 14B illustrates a general-purpose graphics processing unit1430 suitable for deployment on a multi-chip module.

As shown in FIG. 14A, the graphics core 1400 includes a sharedinstruction cache 1402, a texture unit 1418, and a cache/shared memory1420 that are common to the execution resources within the graphics core1400. The graphics core 1400 can include multiple slices 1401A-1401N orpartition for each core, and a graphics processor can include multipleinstances of the graphics core 1400. The slices 1401A-1401N can includesupport logic including a local instruction cache 1404A-1404N, a threadscheduler 1406A-1406N, a thread dispatcher 1408A-1408N, and a set ofregisters 1410A. To perform logic operations, the slices 1401A-1401N caninclude a set of additional function units (AFUs 1412A-1412N),floating-point units (FPU 1414A-1414N), integer arithmetic logic units(ALUs 1416-1416N), address computational units (ACU 1413A-1413N),double-precision floating-point units (DPFPU 1415A-1415N), and matrixprocessing units (MPU 1417A-1417N).

Some of the computational units operate at a specific precision. Forexample, the FPUs 1414A-1414N can perform single-precision (32-bit) andhalf-precision (16-bit) floating point operations, while the DPFPUs1415A-1415N perform double precision (64-bit) floating point operations.The ALUs 1416A-1416N can perform variable precision integer operationsat 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit precision, and can be configured for mixedprecision operations. The MPUs 1417A-1417N can also be configured formixed precision matrix operations, including half-precision floatingpoint and 8-bit integer operations. The MPUs 1417-1417N can perform avariety of matrix operations to accelerate machine learning applicationframeworks, including enabling support for accelerated general matrix tomatrix multiplication (GEMM). The AFUs 1412A-1412N can performadditional logic operations not supported by the floating-point orinteger units, including trigonometric operations (e.g., Sine, Cosine,etc.).

As shown in FIG. 14B, a general-purpose processing unit (GPGPU) 1430 canbe configured to enable highly parallel compute operations to beperformed by an array of graphics processing units. Additionally, theGPGPU 1430 can be linked directly to other instances of the GPGPU tocreate a multi-GPU cluster to improve training speed for particularlydeep neural networks. The GPGPU 1430 includes a host interface 1432 toenable a connection with a host processor. In one embodiment the hostinterface 1432 is a PCI Express interface. However, the host interfacecan also be a vendor specific communications interface or communicationsfabric. The GPGPU 1430 receives commands from the host processor anduses a global scheduler 1434 to distribute execution threads associatedwith those commands to a set of compute clusters 1436A-1436H. Thecompute clusters 1436A-1436H share a cache memory 1438. The cache memory1438 can serve as a higher-level cache for cache memories within thecompute clusters 1436A-1436H.

The GPGPU 1430 includes memory 1434A-1434B coupled with the computeclusters 1436A-1436H via a set of memory controllers 1442A-1442B. Invarious embodiments, the memory 1434A-1434B can include various types ofmemory devices including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) or graphicsrandom access memory, such as synchronous graphics random access memory(SGRAM), including graphics double data rate (GDDR) memory.

In one embodiment the compute clusters 1436A-1436H each include a set ofgraphics cores, such as the graphics core 1400 of FIG. 14A, which caninclude multiple types of integer and floating point logic units thatcan perform computational operations at a range of precisions includingsuited for machine learning computations. For example, in one embodimentat least a subset of the floating point units in each of the computeclusters 1436A-1436H can be configured to perform 16-bit or 32-bitfloating point operations, while a different subset of the floatingpoint units can be configured to perform 64-bit floating pointoperations.

Multiple instances of the GPGPU 1430 can be configured to operate as acompute cluster. The communication mechanism used by the compute clusterfor synchronization and data exchange varies across embodiments. In oneembodiment the multiple instances of the GPGPU 1430 communicate over thehost interface 1432. In one embodiment the GPGPU 1430 includes an I/Ohub 1439 that couples the GPGPU 1430 with a GPU link 1440 that enables adirect connection to other instances of the GPGPU. In one embodiment theGPU link 1440 is coupled to a dedicated GPU-to-GPU bridge that enablescommunication and synchronization between multiple instances of theGPGPU 1430. In one embodiment the GPU link 1440 couples with a highspeed interconnect to transmit and receive data to other GPGPUs orparallel processors. In one embodiment the multiple instances of theGPGPU 1430 are located in separate data processing systems andcommunicate via a network device that is accessible via the hostinterface 1432. In one embodiment the GPU link 1440 can be configured toenable a connection to a host processor in addition to or as analternative to the host interface 1432.

While the illustrated configuration of the GPGPU 1430 can be configuredto train neural networks, one embodiment provides alternateconfiguration of the GPGPU 1430 that can be configured for deploymentwithin a high performance or low power inferencing platform. In aninferencing configuration the GPGPU 1430 includes fewer of the computeclusters 1436A-1436H relative to the training configuration.Additionally, the memory technology associated with the memory1434A-1434B may differ between inferencing and training configurations,with higher bandwidth memory technologies devoted to trainingconfigurations. In one embodiment the inferencing configuration of theGPGPU 1430 can support inferencing specific instructions. For example,an inferencing configuration can provide support for one or more 8-bitinteger dot product instructions, which are commonly used duringinferencing operations for deployed neural networks.

Machine Learning Overview

A machine learning algorithm is an algorithm that can learn based on aset of data. Embodiments of machine learning algorithms can be designedto model high-level abstractions within a data set. For example, imagerecognition algorithms can be used to determine which of severalcategories to which a given input belong; regression algorithms canoutput a numerical value given an input; and pattern recognitionalgorithms can be used to generate translated text or perform text tospeech and/or speech recognition.

An exemplary type of machine learning algorithm is a neural network.There are many types of neural networks; a simple type of neural networkis a feedforward network. A feedforward network may be implemented as anacyclic graph in which the nodes are arranged in layers. Typically, afeedforward network topology includes an input layer and an output layerthat are separated by at least one hidden layer. The hidden layertransforms input received by the input layer into a representation thatis useful for generating output in the output layer. The network nodesare fully connected via edges to the nodes in adjacent layers, but thereare no edges between nodes within each layer. Data received at the nodesof an input layer of a feedforward network are propagated (i.e., “fedforward”) to the nodes of the output layer via an activation functionthat calculates the states of the nodes of each successive layer in thenetwork based on coefficients (“weights”) respectively associated witheach of the edges connecting the layers. Depending on the specific modelbeing represented by the algorithm being executed, the output from theneural network algorithm can take various forms.

Before a machine learning algorithm can be used to model a particularproblem, the algorithm is trained using a training data set. Training aneural network involves selecting a network topology, using a set oftraining data representing a problem being modeled by the network, andadjusting the weights until the network model performs with a minimalerror for all instances of the training data set. For example, during asupervised learning training process for a neural network, the outputproduced by the network in response to the input representing aninstance in a training data set is compared to the “correct” labeledoutput for that instance, an error signal representing the differencebetween the output and the labeled output is calculated, and the weightsassociated with the connections are adjusted to minimize that error asthe error signal is backward propagated through the layers of thenetwork. The network is considered “trained” when the errors for each ofthe outputs generated from the instances of the training data set areminimized.

The accuracy of a machine learning algorithm can be affectedsignificantly by the quality of the data set used to train thealgorithm. The training process can be computationally intensive and mayrequire a significant amount of time on a conventional general-purposeprocessor. Accordingly, parallel processing hardware is used to trainmany types of machine learning algorithms. This is particularly usefulfor optimizing the training of neural networks, as the computationsperformed in adjusting the coefficients in neural networks lendthemselves naturally to parallel implementations. Specifically, manymachine learning algorithms and software applications have been adaptedto make use of the parallel processing hardware within general-purposegraphics processing devices.

FIG. 15 is a generalized diagram of a machine learning software stack1500. A machine learning application 1502 can be configured to train aneural network using a training dataset or to use a trained deep neuralnetwork to implement machine intelligence. The machine learningapplication 1502 can include training and inference functionality for aneural network and/or specialized software that can be used to train aneural network before deployment. The machine learning application 1502can implement any type of machine intelligence including but not limitedto image recognition, mapping and localization, autonomous navigation,speech synthesis, medical imaging, or language translation.

Hardware acceleration for the machine learning application 1502 can beenabled via a machine learning framework 1504. The machine learningframework 1504 can provide a library of machine learning primitives.Machine learning primitives are basic operations that are commonlyperformed by machine learning algorithms. Without the machine learningframework 1504, developers of machine learning algorithms would berequired to create and optimize the main computational logic associatedwith the machine learning algorithm, then re-optimize the computationallogic as new parallel processors are developed. Instead, the machinelearning application can be configured to perform the necessarycomputations using the primitives provided by the machine learningframework 1504. Exemplary primitives include tensor convolutions,activation functions, and pooling, which are computational operationsthat are performed while training a convolutional neural network (CNN).The machine learning framework 1504 can also provide primitives toimplement basic linear algebra subprograms performed by manymachine-learning algorithms, such as matrix and vector operations.

The machine learning framework 1504 can process input data received fromthe machine learning application 1502 and generate the appropriate inputto a compute framework 1506. The compute framework 1506 can abstract theunderlying instructions provided to the GPGPU driver 1508 to enable themachine learning framework 1504 to take advantage of hardwareacceleration via the GPGPU hardware 1510 without requiring the machinelearning framework 1504 to have intimate knowledge of the architectureof the GPGPU hardware 1510. Additionally, the compute framework 1506 canenable hardware acceleration for the machine learning framework 1504across a variety of types and generations of the GPGPU hardware 1510.

Machine Learning Neural Network Implementations

The computing architecture provided by embodiments described herein canbe configured to perform the types of parallel processing that isparticularly suited for training and deploying neural networks formachine learning. A neural network can be generalized as a network offunctions having a graph relationship. As is known in the art, there area variety of types of neural network implementations used in machinelearning. One exemplary type of neural network is the feedforwardnetwork, as previously described.

A second exemplary type of neural network is the Convolutional NeuralNetwork (CNN). A CNN is a specialized feedforward neural network forprocessing data having a known, grid-like topology, such as image data.Accordingly, CNNs are commonly used for compute vision and imagerecognition applications, but they also may be used for other types ofpattern recognition such as speech and language processing. The nodes inthe CNN input layer are organized into a set of “filters” (featuredetectors inspired by the receptive fields found in the retina), and theoutput of each set of filters is propagated to nodes in successivelayers of the network. The computations for a CNN include applying theconvolution mathematical operation to each filter to produce the outputof that filter. Convolution is a specialized kind of mathematicaloperation performed by two functions to produce a third function that isa modified version of one of the two original functions. Inconvolutional network terminology, the first function to the convolutioncan be referred to as the input, while the second function can bereferred to as the convolution kernel. The output may be referred to asthe feature map. For example, the input to a convolution layer can be amultidimensional array of data that defines the various color componentsof an input image. The convolution kernel can be a multidimensionalarray of parameters, where the parameters are adapted by the trainingprocess for the neural network.

Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are a family of feedforward neuralnetworks that include feedback connections between layers. RNNs enablemodeling of sequential data by sharing parameter data across differentparts of the neural network. The architecture for an RNN includescycles. The cycles represent the influence of a present value of avariable on its own value at a future time, as at least a portion of theoutput data from the RNN is used as feedback for processing subsequentinput in a sequence. This feature makes RNNs particularly useful forlanguage processing due to the variable nature in which language datacan be composed.

The figures described below present exemplary feedforward, CNN, and RNNnetworks, as well as describe a general process for respectivelytraining and deploying each of those types of networks. It will beunderstood that these descriptions are exemplary and non-limiting as toany specific embodiment described herein and the concepts illustratedcan be applied generally to deep neural networks and machine learningtechniques in general.

The exemplary neural networks described above can be used to performdeep learning. Deep learning is machine learning using deep neuralnetworks. The deep neural networks used in deep learning are artificialneural networks composed of multiple hidden layers, as opposed toshallow neural networks that include only a single hidden layer. Deeperneural networks are generally more computationally intensive to train.However, the additional hidden layers of the network enable multisteppattern recognition that results in reduced output error relative toshallow machine learning techniques.

Deep neural networks used in deep learning typically include a front-endnetwork to perform feature recognition coupled to a back-end networkwhich represents a mathematical model that can perform operations (e.g.,object classification, speech recognition, etc.) based on the featurerepresentation provided to the model. Deep learning enables machinelearning to be performed without requiring hand crafted featureengineering to be performed for the model. Instead, deep neural networkscan learn features based on statistical structure or correlation withinthe input data. The learned features can be provided to a mathematicalmodel that can map detected features to an output. The mathematicalmodel used by the network is generally specialized for the specific taskto be performed, and different models will be used to perform differenttask.

Once the neural network is structured, a learning model can be appliedto the network to train the network to perform specific tasks. Thelearning model describes how to adjust the weights within the model toreduce the output error of the network. Backpropagation of errors is acommon method used to train neural networks. An input vector ispresented to the network for processing. The output of the network iscompared to the desired output using a loss function and an error valueis calculated for each of the neurons in the output layer. The errorvalues are then propagated backwards until each neuron has an associatederror value which roughly represents its contribution to the originaloutput. The network can then learn from those errors using an algorithm,such as the stochastic gradient descent algorithm, to update the weightsof the of the neural network.

FIG. 16A-16B illustrate an exemplary convolutional neural network. FIG.16A illustrates various layers within a CNN. As shown in FIG. 16A, anexemplary CNN used to model image processing can receive input 1602describing the red, green, and blue (RGB) components of an input image.The input 1602 can be processed by multiple convolutional layers (e.g.,first convolutional layer 1604, second convolutional layer 1606). Theoutput from the multiple convolutional layers may optionally beprocessed by a set of fully connected layers 1608. Neurons in a fullyconnected layer have full connections to all activations in the previouslayer, as previously described for a feedforward network. The outputfrom the fully connected layers 1608 can be used to generate an outputresult from the network. The activations within the fully connectedlayers 1608 can be computed using matrix multiplication instead ofconvolution. Not all CNN implementations are configured to make use offully connected layers 1608. For example, in some implementations thesecond convolutional layer 1606 can generate output for the CNN.

The convolutional layers are sparsely connected, which differs fromtraditional neural network configuration found in the fully connectedlayers 1608. Traditional neural network layers are fully connected, suchthat every output unit interacts with every input unit. However, theconvolutional layers are sparsely connected because the output of theconvolution of a field is input (instead of the respective state valueof each of the nodes in the field) to the nodes of the subsequent layer,as illustrated. The kernels associated with the convolutional layersperform convolution operations, the output of which is sent to the nextlayer. The dimensionality reduction performed within the convolutionallayers is one aspect that enables the CNN to scale to process largeimages.

FIG. 16B illustrates exemplary computation stages within a convolutionallayer of a CNN. Input to a convolutional layer 1612 of a CNN can beprocessed in three stages of a convolutional layer 1614. The threestages can include a convolution stage 1616, a detector stage 1618, anda pooling stage 1620. The convolution layer 1614 can then output data toa successive convolutional layer. The final convolutional layer of thenetwork can generate output feature map data or provide input to a fullyconnected layer, for example, to generate a classification value for theinput to the CNN.

In the convolution stage 1616 performs several convolutions in parallelto produce a set of linear activations. The convolution stage 1616 caninclude an affine transformation, which is any transformation that canbe specified as a linear transformation plus a translation. Affinetransformations include rotations, translations, scaling, andcombinations of these transformations. The convolution stage computesthe output of functions (e.g., neurons) that are connected to specificregions in the input, which can be determined as the local regionassociated with the neuron. The neurons compute a dot product betweenthe weights of the neurons and the region in the local input to whichthe neurons are connected. The output from the convolution stage 1616defines a set of linear activations that are processed by successivestages of the convolutional layer 1614.

The linear activations can be processed by a detector stage 1618. In thedetector stage 1618, each linear activation is processed by a non-linearactivation function. The non-linear activation function increases thenonlinear properties of the overall network without affecting thereceptive fields of the convolution layer. Several types of non-linearactivation functions may be used. One particular type is the rectifiedlinear unit (ReLU), which uses an activation function defined asf(x)=max (0, x), such that the activation is thresholded at zero.

The pooling stage 1620 uses a pooling function that replaces the outputof the second convolutional layer 1606 with a summary statistic of thenearby outputs. The pooling function can be used to introducetranslation invariance into the neural network, such that smalltranslations to the input do not change the pooled outputs. Invarianceto local translation can be useful in scenarios where the presence of afeature in the input data is more important than the precise location ofthe feature. Various types of pooling functions can be used during thepooling stage 1620, including max pooling, average pooling, and l2-normpooling. Additionally, some CNN implementations do not include a poolingstage. Instead, such implementations substitute and additionalconvolution stage having an increased stride relative to previousconvolution stages.

The output from the convolutional layer 1614 can then be processed bythe next layer 1622. The next layer 1622 can be an additionalconvolutional layer or one of the fully connected layers 1608. Forexample, the first convolutional layer 1604 of FIG. 16A can output tothe second convolutional layer 1606, while the second convolutionallayer can output to a first layer of the fully connected layers 1608.

FIG. 17 illustrates an exemplary recurrent neural network. In arecurrent neural network (RNN), the previous state of the networkinfluences the output of the current state of the network. RNNs can bebuilt in a variety of ways using a variety of functions. The use of RNNsgenerally revolves around using mathematical models to predict thefuture based on a prior sequence of inputs. For example, an RNN may beused to perform statistical language modeling to predict an upcomingword given a previous sequence of words. The illustrated RNN 1700 can bedescribed as having an input layer 1702 that receives an input vector,hidden layers 1704 to implement a recurrent function, a feedbackmechanism 1705 to enable a ‘memory’ of previous states, and an outputlayer 1706 to output a result. The RNN 1700 operates based ontime-steps. The state of the RNN at a given time step is influencedbased on the previous time step via the feedback mechanism 1705. For agiven time step, the state of the hidden layers 1704 is defined by theprevious state and the input at the current time step. An initial input(x₁) at a first time step can be processed by the hidden layer 1704. Asecond input (x₂) can be processed by the hidden layer 1704 using stateinformation that is determined during the processing of the initialinput (x₁). A given state can be computed as s_(t)=ƒ(Ux_(t)+Ws_(t-1)),where U and W are parameter matrices. The function ƒ is generally anonlinearity, such as the hyperbolic tangent function (Tanh) or avariant of the rectifier function ƒ(x)=max(0, x). However, the specificmathematical function used in the hidden layers 1704 can vary dependingon the specific implementation details of the RNN 1700.

In addition to the basic CNN and RNN networks described, variations onthose networks may be enabled. One example RNN variant is the longshort-term memory (LSTM) RNN. LSTM RNNs are capable of learninglong-term dependencies that may be necessary for processing longersequences of language. A variant on the CNN is a convolutional deepbelief network, which has a structure similar to a CNN and is trained ina manner similar to a deep belief network. A deep belief network (DBN)is a generative neural network that is composed of multiple layers ofstochastic (random) variables. DBNs can be trained layer-by-layer usinggreedy unsupervised learning. The learned weights of the DBN can then beused to provide pre-train neural networks by determining an optimalinitial set of weights for the neural network.

FIG. 18 illustrates training and deployment of a deep neural network.Once a given network has been structured for a task the neural networkis trained using a training dataset 1802. Various training frameworkshave been developed to enable hardware acceleration of the trainingprocess. For example, the machine learning framework 1504 of FIG. 15 maybe configured as a training framework 1804. The training framework 1804can hook into an untrained neural network 1806 and enable the untrainedneural net to be trained using the parallel processing resourcesdescribed herein to generate a trained neural network 1808. To start thetraining process the initial weights may be chosen randomly or bypre-training using a deep belief network. The training cycle then beperformed in either a supervised or unsupervised manner.

Supervised learning is a learning method in which training is performedas a mediated operation, such as when the training dataset 1802 includesinput paired with the desired output for the input, or where thetraining dataset includes input having known output and the output ofthe neural network is manually graded. The network processes the inputsand compares the resulting outputs against a set of expected or desiredoutputs. Errors are then propagated back through the system. Thetraining framework 1804 can adjust to adjust the weights that controlthe untrained neural network 1806. The training framework 1804 canprovide tools to monitor how well the untrained neural network 1806 isconverging towards a model suitable to generating correct answers basedon known input data. The training process occurs repeatedly as theweights of the network are adjusted to refine the output generated bythe neural network. The training process can continue until the neuralnetwork reaches a statistically desired accuracy associated with atrained neural network 1808. The trained neural network 1808 can then bedeployed to implement any number of machine learning operations togenerate an inference result 1814 based on input of new data 1812.

Unsupervised learning is a learning method in which the network attemptsto train itself using unlabeled data. Thus, for unsupervised learningthe training dataset 1802 will include input data without any associatedoutput data. The untrained neural network 1806 can learn groupingswithin the unlabeled input and can determine how individual inputs arerelated to the overall dataset. Unsupervised training can be used togenerate a self-organizing map, which is a type of trained neuralnetwork 1808 capable of performing operations useful in reducing thedimensionality of data. Unsupervised training can also be used toperform anomaly detection, which allows the identification of datapoints in an input dataset that deviate from the normal patterns of thedata.

Variations on supervised and unsupervised training may also be employed.Semi-supervised learning is a technique in which in the training dataset1802 includes a mix of labeled and unlabeled data of the samedistribution. Incremental learning is a variant of supervised learningin which input data is continuously used to further train the model.Incremental learning enables the trained neural network 1808 to adapt tothe new data 1812 without forgetting the knowledge instilled within thenetwork during initial training.

Whether supervised or unsupervised, the training process forparticularly deep neural networks may be too computationally intensivefor a single compute node. Instead of using a single compute node, adistributed network of computational nodes can be used to accelerate thetraining process.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating distributed learning.Distributed learning is a training model that uses multiple distributedcomputing nodes to perform supervised or unsupervised training of aneural network. The distributed computational nodes can each include oneor more host processors and one or more of the general-purposeprocessing nodes. As illustrated, distributed learning can be performedmodel parallelism 1902, data parallelism 1904, or a combination of modeland data parallelism 1904.

In model parallelism 1902, different computational nodes in adistributed system can perform training computations for different partsof a single network. For example, each layer of a neural network can betrained by a different processing node of the distributed system. Thebenefits of model parallelism include the ability to scale toparticularly large models. Splitting the computations associated withdifferent layers of the neural network enables the training of verylarge neural networks in which the weights of all layers would not fitinto the memory of a single computational node. In some instances, modelparallelism can be particularly useful in performing unsupervisedtraining of large neural networks.

In data parallelism 1904, the different nodes of the distributed networkhave a complete instance of the model and each node receives a differentportion of the data. The results from the different nodes are thencombined. While different approaches to data parallelism are possible,data parallel training approaches all require a technique of combiningresults and synchronizing the model parameters between each node.Exemplary approaches to combining data include parameter averaging andupdate based data parallelism. Parameter averaging trains each node on asubset of the training data and sets the global parameters (e.g.,weights, biases) to the average of the parameters from each node.Parameter averaging uses a central parameter server that maintains theparameter data. Update based data parallelism is similar to parameteraveraging except that instead of transferring parameters from the nodesto the parameter server, the updates to the model are transferred.Additionally, update based data parallelism can be performed in adecentralized manner, where the updates are compressed and transferredbetween nodes.

Combined model and data parallelism 1906 can be implemented, forexample, in a distributed system in which each computational nodeincludes multiple GPUs. Each node can have a complete instance of themodel with separate GPUs within each node are used to train differentportions of the model.

Distributed training has increased overhead relative to training on asingle machine. However, the parallel processors and GPGPUs describedherein can each implement various techniques to reduce the overhead ofdistributed training, including techniques to enable high bandwidthGPU-to-GPU data transfer and accelerated remote data synchronization.

Exemplary Machine Learning Applications

Machine learning can be applied to solve a variety of technologicalproblems, including but not limited to computer vision, autonomousdriving and navigation, speech recognition, and language processing.Computer vision has traditionally been one of the most active researchareas for machine learning applications. Applications of computer visionrange from reproducing human visual abilities, such as recognizingfaces, to creating new categories of visual abilities. For example,computer vision applications can be configured to recognize sound wavesfrom the vibrations induced in objects visible in a video. Parallelprocessor accelerated machine learning enables computer visionapplications to be trained using significantly larger training datasetthan previously feasible and enables inferencing systems to be deployedusing low power parallel processors.

Parallel processor accelerated machine learning has autonomous drivingapplications including lane and road sign recognition, obstacleavoidance, navigation, and driving control. Accelerated machine learningtechniques can be used to train driving models based on datasets thatdefine the appropriate responses to specific training input. Theparallel processors described herein can enable rapid training of theincreasingly complex neural networks used for autonomous drivingsolutions and enables the deployment of low power inferencing processorsin a mobile platform suitable for integration into autonomous vehicles.

Parallel processor accelerated deep neural networks have enabled machinelearning approaches to automatic speech recognition (ASR). ASR includesthe creation of a function that computes the most probable linguisticsequence given an input acoustic sequence. Accelerated machine learningusing deep neural networks have enabled the replacement of the hiddenMarkov models (HMMs) and Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) previously usedfor ASR.

Parallel processor accelerated machine learning can also be used toaccelerate natural language processing. Automatic learning procedurescan make use of statistical inference algorithms to produce models thatare robust to erroneous or unfamiliar input. Exemplary natural languageprocessor applications include automatic machine translation betweenhuman languages.

The parallel processing platforms used for machine learning can bedivided into training platforms and deployment platforms. Trainingplatforms are generally highly parallel and include optimizations toaccelerate multi-GPU single node training and multi-node, multi-GPUtraining, while deployed machine learning (e.g., inferencing) platformsgenerally include lower power parallel processors suitable for use inproducts such as cameras, autonomous robots, and autonomous vehicles.

Conventional scheduling and dispatching in graphics hardware rely onprefetching subsequent consecutive cache lines anticipating the nextinstruction. These techniques can be improved upon via the use of neuralnetworks.

Embodiments described herein provide techniques to improve theefficiency of GPU deep pipelines. A first embodiment provides for anAI-based dynamic scheduling on complex GPU architecture. A secondembodiment provides for intelligent memory controller scheduling tosupport various types of memory requests. A third embodiment providesfor an implementation of a neural network for a graphics pipeline. Afourth embodiment provides for a neural network switch to determine whento switch between a GPU pipeline and a neural network pipeline. A fifthembodiment provides for AI Driven Thread Dispatch. A sixth embodimentprovides for AI-driven hardware memory prefetching.

Graphics Processor Having a Neural Network Pipeline

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a computing device 2000 including agraphics processor 2004, according to an embodiment. The computingdevice 2000 can be a computing device such as the data processing system100 as in of FIG. 1 and can include components shown in any of FIG. 2through FIG. 10 and/or FIG. 14A-14B. The computing device can bemanufactured according to techniques illustrated in FIG. 11A-11B. In oneembodiment, computing device 2000 can also include graphics processorsof FIG. 12 and/or FIG. 13A-13B. The computing device 2000 may also be orbe included within a communication device such as a set-top box (e.g.,Internet-based cable television set-top boxes, etc.), global positioningsystem (GPS)-based devices, etc. The computing device 2000 may also beor be included within mobile computing devices such as cellular phones,smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet computers,laptop computers, e-readers, smart televisions, television platforms,wearable devices (e.g., glasses, watches, bracelets, smartcards,jewelry, clothing items, etc.), media players, etc. For example, in oneembodiment, the computing device 2000 includes a mobile computing deviceemploying an integrated circuit (“IC”), such as system on a chip (“SoC”or “SOC”), integrating various hardware and/or software components ofcomputing device 2000 on a single chip. Computing device 2000 can alsobe included in smart wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices,head-mounted display (HMDs), mobile computers, Internet of Things (IoT)devices, laptop computers, desktop computers, server computers, or othertypes of computing devices.

The computing device 2000 includes a graphics processor 2004. Thegraphics processor 2004 represents any graphics processor describedherein. The graphics processor includes one or more graphics engine(s),graphics processor cores, and other graphics execution resources asdescribed herein. Such graphics execution resources can be presented inthe forms including but not limited to execution units, shader engines,fragment processors, vertex processors, streaming multiprocessors,graphics processor clusters, or any collection of computing resourcessuitable for the processing of graphics resources or image resources, orperforming general purpose computational operations in a heterogeneousprocessor.

In one embodiment, the graphics processor 2004 includes a cache 2014,which can be a single cache or divided into multiple segments of cachememory, including but not limited to any number of L1, L2, L3, or L4caches, render caches, depth caches, sampler caches, and/or shader unitcaches. In some embodiments, the graphics processor 2004 includes aGPGPU engine 2044 that includes a neural network pipeline 2042 and acompute block 2055. In one embodiment the compute block 2055 includes anarray of execution units as described herein. In other embodiments thecompute block 2055 can include other designs of compute units orstreaming multiprocessors that enable SIMD and/or SIMT (singleinstruction, multiple thread) processing of compute and/or graphicsthreads. The neural network pipeline 2042 includes fixed function andprogrammable logic elements that can accelerate operations associatedwith neural networks, including operations performed during training orinference. neural network pipeline 2042 can work in concert with thecompute block 2055 or independently of the compute block 2055.

In one embodiment the neural network pipeline 2042 can be used toperform operations artificial intelligence operations (AI) on behalf oflogic blocks that are configured to perform AI tessellation 2024 and AItexture generation 2025. The neural network pipeline 2042 can alsoperform operations for or operate in concert with an AI scheduler 2026,an AI memory optimizer 2027, and an AI visibility processor 2028. Thelogic that is implemented by or operates in concert with the neuralnetwork pipeline 2042 can be implemented as software or firmware logicand may be partially and simultaneously hosted by multiple components ofcomputing device 2000, such as one or more of graphics driver logic2022, graphics processor 2004, application processor 2006, OS 2002,and/or firmware within the application processor 2006 and/or graphicsprocessor 2004. Specific details of the neural network pipeline 2042 andthe logic to perform AI tessellation 2024, AI texture generation 2025,as well as the AI scheduler 2026, AI memory optimizer 2027, and AIvisibility processor 2028 are illustrated in the figures describedbelow.

In one embodiment, and in addition to the graphics processor 2004, thecomputing device 2000 may further include any number and type ofhardware components and/or software components, including, but notlimited to an application processor 2006, memory 2008, and input/output(I/O) sources 2010. The application processor 2006 can interact with ahardware graphics pipeline, as illustrated with reference to FIG. 3, toshare graphics pipeline functionality. Processed data is stored in abuffer in the hardware graphics pipeline and state information is storedin memory 2008. The resulting data can be transferred to a displaycontroller for output via a display device, such as the display device320 of FIG. 3. The display device may be of various types, such asCathode Ray Tube (CRT), Thin Film Transistor (TFT), Liquid CrystalDisplay (LCD), Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) array, etc., and maybe configured to display information to a user via a graphical userinterface.

The application processor 2006 can include one or processors, such asprocessor(s) 102 of FIG. 1 and may be the central processing unit (CPU)that is used at least in part to execute an operating system (OS) 2002for the computing device 2000. The OS 2002 can serve as an interfacebetween hardware and/or physical resources of the computing device 2000and one or more users. The OS 2002 can include driver logic for varioushardware devices in the computing device 2000, including graphics driverlogic 2022, such as the user mode graphics driver 1026 and/or kernelmode graphics driver 1029 of FIG. 10.

It is contemplated that in some embodiments the graphics processor 2004may exist as part of the application processor 2006 (such as part of aphysical CPU package) in which case, at least a portion of the memory2008 may be shared by the application processor 2006 and graphicsprocessor 2004, although at least a portion of the memory 2008 may beexclusive to the graphics processor 2004, or the graphics processor 2004may have a separate store of memory. The memory 2008 may comprise apre-allocated region of a buffer (e.g., framebuffer); however, it shouldbe understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodimentsare not so limited, and that any memory accessible to the lower graphicspipeline may be used. The memory 2008 may include various forms ofrandom access memory (RAM) (e.g., SDRAM, SRAM, etc.) comprising anapplication that makes use of the graphics processor 2004 to render adesktop or 3D graphics scene. A memory controller hub, such as memorycontroller 116 of FIG. 1, may access data in the memory 2008 and forwardit to graphics processor 2004 for graphics pipeline processing. Thememory 2008 may be made available to other components within thecomputing device 2000. For example, any data (e.g., input graphics data)received from various I/O sources 2010 of the computing device 2000 canbe temporarily queued into memory 2008 prior to their being operatedupon by one or more processor(s) (e.g., application processor 2006) inthe implementation of a software program or application. Similarly, datathat a software program determines should be sent from the computingdevice 2000 to an outside entity through one of the computing systeminterfaces, or stored into an internal storage element, is oftentemporarily queued in memory 2008 prior to its being transmitted orstored.

The I/O sources can include devices such as touchscreens, touch panels,touch pads, virtual or regular keyboards, virtual or regular mice,ports, connectors, network devices, or the like, and can attach via aplatform controller hub 130 as referenced in FIG. 1. Additionally, theI/O sources 2010 may include one or more I/O devices that areimplemented for transferring data to and/or from the computing device2000 (e.g., a networking adapter); or, for a large-scale non-volatilestorage within the computing device 2000 (e.g., hard disk drive). Userinput devices, including alphanumeric and other keys, may be used tocommunicate information and command selections to graphics processor2004. Another type of user input device is cursor control, such as amouse, a trackball, a touchscreen, a touchpad, or cursor direction keysto communicate direction information and command selections to GPU andto control cursor movement on the display device. Camera and microphonearrays of the computing device 2000 may be employed to observe gestures,record audio and video and to receive and transmit visual and audiocommands.

I/O sources 2010 configured as network interfaces can provide access toa network, such as a LAN, a wide area network (WAN), a metropolitan areanetwork (MAN), a personal area network (PAN), Bluetooth, a cloudnetwork, a cellular or mobile network (e.g., 3rd Generation (3G), 4^(th)Generation (4G), 5^(th) Generation (5G) etc.), an intranet, theInternet, etc. Network interface(s) may include, for example, a wirelessnetwork interface having one or more antenna(e). Network interface(s)may also include, for example, a wired network interface to communicatewith remote devices via network cable, which may be, for example, anEthernet cable, a coaxial cable, a fiber optic cable, a serial cable, ora parallel cable.

Network interface(s) may provide access to a LAN, for example, byconforming to IEEE 802.11 standards, and/or the wireless networkinterface may provide access to a personal area network, for example, byconforming to Bluetooth standards. Other wireless network interfacesand/or protocols, including previous and subsequent versions of thestandards, may also be supported. In addition to, or instead of,communication via the wireless LAN standards, network interface(s) mayprovide wireless communication using, for example, Time Division,Multiple Access (TDMA) protocols, Global Systems for MobileCommunications (GSM) protocols, Code Division, Multiple Access (CDMA)protocols, and/or any other type of wireless communications protocols.

It is to be appreciated that a lesser or more equipped system than theexample described above may be preferred for certain implementations.Therefore, the configuration of the computing device 2000 may vary fromimplementation to implementation depending upon numerous factors, suchas price constraints, performance requirements, technologicalimprovements, or other circumstances. Examples include (withoutlimitation) a mobile device, a personal digital assistant, a mobilecomputing device, a smartphone, a cellular telephone, a handset, aone-way pager, a two-way pager, a messaging device, a computer, apersonal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a laptop computer, anotebook computer, a handheld computer, a tablet computer, a server, aserver array or server farm, a web server, a network server, an Internetserver, a work station, a mini-computer, a main frame computer, asupercomputer, a network appliance, a web appliance, a distributedcomputing system, multiprocessor systems, processor-based systems,consumer electronics, programmable consumer electronics, television,digital television, set top box, wireless access point, base station,subscriber station, mobile subscriber center, radio network controller,router, hub, gateway, bridge, switch, machine, or combinations thereof.

Embodiments may be implemented as any one, or a combination of one ormore microchips or integrated circuits interconnected using aparent-board, hardwired logic, software stored by a memory device andexecuted by a microprocessor, firmware, an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), and/or a field programmable gate array(FPGA). The term “logic” may include, by way of example, software orhardware and/or combinations of software and hardware.

Embodiments may be provided, for example, as a computer program productwhich may include one or more machine-readable media having storedthereon machine-executable instructions that, when executed by one ormore machines such as a computer, network of computers, or otherelectronic devices, may result in the one or more machines carrying outoperations in accordance with embodiments described herein. Amachine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppydiskettes, optical disks, CD-ROMs (Compact Disc-Read Only Memories), andmagneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs (Erasable Programmable ReadOnly Memories), EEPROMs (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read OnlyMemories), magnetic or optical cards, flash memory, or other type ofnon-transitory machine-readable media suitable for storingmachine-executable instructions.

Moreover, embodiments may be downloaded as a computer program product,wherein the program may be transferred from a remote computer (e.g., aserver) to a requesting computer (e.g., a client) by way of one or moredata signals embodied in and/or modulated by a carrier wave or otherpropagation medium via a communication link (e.g., a modem and/ornetwork connection).

AI-Based Tessellation

According to one embodiment, artificial intelligence (AI) techniques areapplied to a graphics processing unit to enable an AI-based tessellationmechanism. AI-based tessellation mechanism can be performed using AItessellation logic 2024 of the GPGPU engine 2044 of FIG. 20. In oneembodiment, the AI tessellation logic 2024 operates in concert with theneural network pipeline 2042 and compute block 2055 of FIG. 20. TheAI-based tessellation mechanism performs AI driven higher-order geometryand tessellation inference using a neural network that is trained basedusing a dataset that includes pre and post tessellated vertices. Thetessellation module 2100 can train a network to recognize patterns fromcoarse geometric representations and infer higher-order and/or highertessellation for said geometric shapes. In one embodiment, ahigher-order geometric representations can be output in the form ofnon-uniform rational B-spline (NURB) curves, which are defined by anorder, a set of weighted control points, and a knot vector, where theorder of the curve defines the number of nearby control points thatinfluence any given point on the curve.

In one embodiment, the AI tessellation logic 2024 may be used to replacetessellation logic within a graphics pipeline, with the output of the AItessellation logic 2024 and/or neural network pipeline 2042 flowingthrough the remaining programmable & fixed-function portion of thegraphics pipeline, (e.g., geometry shader, rasterization, output-merger,etc.) to enable the application of custom special effects to thetessellated output. In some implementations, the AI tessellation logic2024 may eliminate the need for a fixed function tessellator. In otherimplementations, the AI tessellation logic 2024 can be enabledautomatically when tessellation is not supported by an application.

Tessellation operates on a group of vertices known as patches, whichprovide a framework for use in interpolating vertices duringtessellation. A shader program then transforms the generated verticesinto a polygonal form. A vertex shader in the geometry pipeline providesan array of vertices to a tessellation module, along with attributescorresponding to various output variables. A tessellation control shaderwill then execute for each vertex and generate data sets that includecontrol variables that the tessellation evaluator will use to interpretthe additional vertices generated by the tessellation generator andtessellation values that the tessellation generator will use to generatenew vertices.

FIG. 21 illustrates a tessellation module 2100, according to anembodiment. The tessellation module 2100 includes a tessellationcontroller 2108, a tessellation generator 2109 and a tessellationevaluator 2110. In one embodiment, the tessellation controller 2108 andtessellation evaluator 2110 include programmable logic that can beprogrammed via shader logic. For example, the tessellation controller2108 can be controlled via a hull shader program 2118, while thetessellation evaluator 2110 can be programmed via a domain shaderprogram. In such embodiment, the tessellation controller 2108 canfunction as the hull shader 811 of the geometry pipeline 820 of FIG. 8.The tessellation evaluator 2110 can function as the domain shader 817 ofthe geometry pipeline 820 of FIG. 8. The tessellation generator 2109 canbe fixed-function logic that is initialized by binding a hull shader tothe graphics pipeline. The tessellation generator 2109 can be configuredto subdivide a domain (e.g., quad, triangle, line) into many smallerobjects (triangles, points or lines).

During operation, a vertex shader 2107 can perform transform andlighting operations on vertices at the direction of a vertex program andthen output patches of vertices to the tessellation controller 2108,which uses the patches as input control points 2102. The vertices areprocessed at the tessellation controller 2108 using a hull shaderprogram 2118. The hull shader program 2118 can generate two phases ofthreads consisting of control point threads 2119 and patch constantthreads 2120. The threads of each phase are generally executed inparallel. The control point threads 2119 read the input control points2102 to generate output control points 2106. The patch-constant phaseoperates once per patch and generates the patch constant data 2104 (e.g.outer and inner tessellation factors). The patch constant data 2104 isused as input to the tessellation generator 2109 and tessellationevaluator 2110. The tessellation generator 2109 generates new verticesby creating new primitives inside of the patch of vertices. In oneembodiment, triangles, quads (e.g. rectangles and squares), or lines canbe drawn within the vertex patch and then new vertices are generated bysubdividing the polygons to make new, smaller polygons. New vertices arethen interpolated based on the smaller polygons. The control point datacan then be used by a tessellation evaluator 2110 to place the newvertex data into the 3D scene. The output control points 2106 and patchconstant data 2104 can be used to define how the tessellation evaluator2110 transforms the newly generated vertices 2113 for use within the 3Dscene.

FIG. 22A illustrates use of the tessellation module 2100 to train aneural network used by AI tessellation logic 2024 to perform AI-basedtessellation. Using a training and deployment system similar to thatillustrated in FIG. 18, the tessellation module 2100 can be used togenerate a training dataset 2202 that can be used to train an untrainedneural network 2206 into a trained neural network 2208. The trainingdataset 2202 can include sets of coarse vertex data that was input tothe tessellation module 2100 and the resulting fine vertex data that isoutput by the tessellation module 2100. After sufficient training, thetrained neural network 2208 can be configured to receive coarse vertexdata 2212 and generate appropriate fine vertex data 2214.

FIG. 22B illustrates inference using an AI tessellation module 2024 thatis configured to use a trained neural network to generate fine vertexdata 2214 upon receipt of coarse vertex data 2212. The AI tessellationmodule 2024 can initially operate on specific patterns of coarse vertexdata 2212. Over time, more complex models or a greater number of modelscan be used to widen the types of vertex patterns that can betessellated via the AI tessellation module 2024.

In a further embodiment, a tessellation mechanism described herein canmake use of a neural network to simulate tessellation of a 3D scene atthe pixel level to increase the quality of rendered output. Thetessellation mechanism can use a pre-trained neural network to simulatethe look of a tessellated image without performing tessellation at thevertex or geometry level.

FIG. 23A illustrates use of post-shader pixel data for tessellatedgeometry to train a neural network that may be used to simulatetessellation at the vertex level. Using a training and deployment systemsimilar to that illustrated in FIG. 18, post-shader pixel data fortessellated geometry 2301 can be used to generate a training dataset2302 that can be used to train an untrained neural network 2306 into atrained neural network 2308. The training dataset 2302 can include setsof pixel shaded coarse vertex data and pixel shaded tessellated vertexdata. The shaded coarse vertex data for the training dataset 2302 can begenerated by applying a pixel shader to coarse vertex data. The sharedfine vertex data for the training dataset 2302 can be generated byapplying the pixel shader to tessellated geometry that is generatedbased on the coarse vertex data. After sufficient training, the trainedneural network 2308 can be configured to receive pixel shaded coarsevertex data 2312 and output the appropriate shaded fine vertex data2314.

FIG. 23B illustrates inference using the AI tessellation module 2024when the AI tessellation module is configured to simulate tessellationat the pixel level. In one embodiment the AI tessellation module 2024can be configured to output or generate shaded fine vertex data 2314based on shaded coarse vertex data 2312 that is input to the AItessellation module 2024. The AI tessellation module 2024 can initiallyoperate on specific patterns of shaded coarse vertex data 2312. Overtime, more complex models or a greater number of models can be used towiden the types of shaded vertex patterns that can be tessellated viathe AI tessellation module 2024. In one embodiment, the AI tessellationmodule 2024 can optionally operate in concert with the module configuredto perform AI texture generation 2025 to assist in the pixel generationprocess for the shaded fine vertex data.

EU Addressable NN Block.

Some embodiments described herein provide for a neural network blockthat is addressable from a shader EU in the same way a sampler isaddressable. In one embodiment, a block of execution units can calculateparticle movement using artificial intelligence logic implemented viathe neural network block. In one embodiment, GPU-based actor AI decisionmaking is enabled. In one embodiment, general-purpose neural networkinferencing can be applied on a per-EU thread/lane basis.

FIG. 24 illustrates a set of hardware blocks 2400 associated with agraphics processor described herein. The hardware blocks 2400 include anEU block 2402, a sampler 2404, a neural network block (NN block 2405),and a memory fetch unit. The EU block 2402 can be a variant of thecompute block 2055 of FIG. 20. The neural network block 2405 can a partof the neural network pipeline 2042 of FIG. 20. The EU block 2402includes one or more graphics execution units as described herein, eachexecution unit including general-purpose logic that is programmable toperform parallel general-purpose computational operations in addition tographics processing operations. The sampler 2404 can read texture orother 3D graphics related data into memory. The 3D sampler can readtexture data differently based on a configured sample state and thetexture format associated with a given texture. The NN block 2405enables execution of a small neural network with a fixed maximum layersize and/or number of layers. The memory fetch unit 2406 enables the EUblock 2402, sampler, 2404, and NN block 2405 to fetch portions of memoryfrom a cache hierarchy, local graphics memory, or system memory.

The sampler 2404 takes input in the form of a texture resource and asampler state. The texture resource is a pointer to texture data inmemory. The sampler state includes details such as the sampler filtermode, addressing mode, and max anisotropy. The sampler generates outputin the form of some color data that is augmented based on the selectedsampler state. A similar concept can be applied to neural networks,specifically neural network used for inference. In one embodiment apointer to input data is provided to the NN block 2405 which, based on astate block representing the number of layers, the size of each layer,and associated activation function for each layer, can perform neuralnetwork calculations and output an inference result to the EU block2402.

In various embodiments, multiple designs are possible for the NN block2405. In one embodiment, the NN block 2405 has a single layer design. Inone embodiment, the NN block 2405 has a multiple layer design. For eachlayer, a user can program the NN block 2405 with a state blockrepresenting the number of layers, the size of each layer, andassociated activation function for each layer. The user can also pass ina uniform buffer of weights for the neural network for each layer andany other associated state needed to operate the neural network.

Mapping processing to an execution unit within the EU block 2402 can besupported by either serializing the entire thread's lanes or by adding aSIMD path. The sampler 2404 can take somewhere between 8 and 64 pixelsworth of texture coordinate data, determine the minimum set of affectedcache lines, and parallelize the sampling operation. The sampleroperations can be performed serially, once the data is present, or inparallel. The NN block 2405 can perform in the same manner as thesampler 2404 and can potentially reduce the required work if the inputsare identical.

In one embodiment the NN block 2405 is programmatically configurable toaccelerate neural network primitive operations, such as but not limitedto matrix multiply and accumulate operations and/or operations toaccelerate steps of a convolution operation. The NN block 2405 can alsobe configured to accelerate activation functions, as described below.

FIG. 25 illustrates a single layer hardware neural network block 2500,according to an embodiment. The single layer hardware neural networkblock 2500 is a variant of the NN block 2405 of FIG. 24. The singlelayer block includes a single neural network block 2520 including asource data buffer 2502, a neural network & activation operations unit2504, and an output data buffer 2506. The single layer hardware neuralnetwork block 2500 additionally includes a block programming unit 2508and a weights cache 2510.

The neural network block 2520 accepts and initial set of input data2501, which is stored in a source data buffer 2502. The neural network &activation operations unit 2504 includes hardware logic to performcalculations associated with neural network operations and activationsoperations for a layer of a neural network. The neural network &activation operations unit 2504 in various embodiments, can be a singleunit or separate units. The neural network & activation operations unit2504 can include logic to perform a variety of operations to acceleratetraining or inference operations for a neural network, including matrixmultiply and accumulate operations and/or operations to accelerate stepsof a convolution operation. The neural network & activation operationsunit 2504 can also support a variety of activation functions including,but not limited to the rectified linear unit (ReLU) function of equation(1), the sigmoid function of equation (2), or the hard-sigmoid functionof equation (3).

$\begin{matrix}{{f(x)} = {\max\left( {0,x} \right)}} & (1) \\{{\sigma(x)} = \frac{1}{\left( {1 + e^{- x}} \right)}} & (2) \\{{\sigma(x)} = {\max\left( {0,{\min\left( {1,\frac{x + 1}{2}} \right)}} \right)}} & (3)\end{matrix}$

Output data from the neural network & activation operations unit 2504 isstored in the output data buffer 2506.

The neural network block 2520 is programmed by the block programmingunit 2508. Programming data 2511 is provided to the block programmingunit 2508, where the programming data 2511 can be specified by programlogic that is performing operations on a graphics processor, or otherprocessing unit that contains the single layer hardware neural networkblock 2500. The block programming unit 2508, based on the programmingdata 2511, configures the number of layers and layer state information.The layer state information is state information for one or more layersof a neural network to be processed by the neural network unit.Exemplary layer state information includes the number of input andoutput values, the number of weights, and activation operations to usefor the configured layers of the neural network. Weights for the variouslayers are stored in the weights cache 2510.

In one embodiment, the single layer hardware neural network block 2500is programmed to wrap back upon itself as the block processes eachlayer. Each neuron is programmed with a specific set of weights andfeeds inputs either from the initial input or the prior layer. As eachlayer is processed, the neural network block consumes consume a portionof a weight buffer, which can be stored in the weights cache 2510, andapplies the neuron calculation and activation function via the neuralnetwork & activation operations unit 2504. When a layer is completed,the output buffer becomes the input buffer for the next layer. Input andoutput can then alternate between buffers in a ping-pong manner. Uponcompletion of the last layer, the results are returned to the shader.

FIG. 26 illustrates a multiple layer hardware neural network block 2600,according to an embodiment. In one embodiment, the multiple layerhardware neural network block 2600 includes multiple neural networkblocks 2520 illustrated in FIG. 25. For example, the illustratedmultiple layer hardware neural network block 2600 includes three neuralnetwork blocks 2520A-2520C, although a different number of blocks can beincluded.

Although the multiple layer hardware neural network block 2600 consumesa greater die area than the single layer hardware neural network block2500, the multiple layer block can pipeline layer processing, enablingimproved performance.

In one embodiment, the multiple layer hardware neural network block 2600supports a fixed maximum layer size, represented by the number of neuralnetwork blocks 2520 included within the hardware. In one embodiment, themultiple layer hardware neural network block 2600 functions like amulti-block single layer design, with the ability to “wrap around” backto the start allowing the multiple layer hardware neural network block2600 to scale to any neural network depth.

Geometry Culling Visibility Using Machine Learning

One embodiment provides for a method of geometry culling visibilityusing machine learning. Using machine learning can avoid expensivepre-passes in fixed function logic within the graphics processor whenperforming geometry culling. A coarse description of world or scene,including lighting data, opacity information, etc. can be processedbefore the tessellation stage of the graphics pipeline. A machinelearning model can be trained on data with labels of 0 (culled) and 1(non-culled). The trained machine learning model can then generatevisibility information on a per-object basis. When generating visibilityinformation on a per-object basis, the machine learning model candetermine whether an object is unobstructed, partially obstructed, orcompletely obstructed. A list of completely obstructed objects can besent to the graphics pipeline for culling.

FIG. 27 illustrates a system 2700 in which geometry culling visibilityis determined using machine learning, according to an embodiment. In theillustrated system 2700, a viewpoint 2702 relative to a scene 2704 thatincludes geometry data, along with parameters including but not limitedto the lighting and opacity data of the objects described by thegeometry data, is provided to a visibility processing neural network2705. The visibility processing neural network 2705, in one embodiment,is trained using a training data set that includes portion of geometrydata in which a given object is either culled or not culled. Thevisibility processing neural network 2705 can be included within the AIvisibility processor 2028 of FIG. 20. After training, the visibilityprocessing neural network 2705 can be used to determine, for a givenobject in the scene 2704, whether the object will be visible given theprovided lighting and opacity data. The visibility processing neuralnetwork 2705 can be pre-trained before deployment and the weights andmodel associated with the neural network can be provided to a neuralnetwork block described herein (e.g., NN block 2405) for execution. Thevisibility processing neural network 2705 can output culled geometry2706 that can be submitted to a rendering pipeline 2708.

Generative Texture Shader Model

Embodiment described herein provide for a generative texture shadermodel in which a meta-shader can generate many different types oftextures. The generative texture shader, in one embodiment, isimplemented via fixed function logic within a sampler unit. In oneembodiment, the generative texture shader is implemented using one ormore variants of an EU addressable neural network block as describedherein (e.g., NN block 2405).

In one embodiment the generative texture shader is a generativeadversarial network (GAN). A GAN is a machine learning network thatincludes a generator and a discriminator, where the generator maps alatent encoding to a data space, while the discriminator distinguishesbetween samples generated by the generator and real data. The generatoris trained to deceive the discriminator, while the discriminator istrained to avoid being deceived by the generator. The specificimplementation of the generator can vary based on the GANimplementation, and different implementations can use different numbersand combinations of neural network layers.

FIG. 28 illustrates a meta-shader system 2800, according to anembodiment. The meta-shader system 2800 can be configured to generatemany different types of textures and can be used as a replacement for aprocedural texture shader. A procedural texture shader is a shaderprogram that can execute on a shader EU (e.g., within EU block 2402).The procedural texture shader uses program logic to generate texturedata that can be applied to geometry generated by a graphics pipeline.The meta-shader system 2800, instead of using a shader program togenerate a specific type of texture, can be configured to generate manydifferent types of textures.

In one embodiment the meta-shader system 2800 includes a GAN 2815including a generator network 2803 and a discriminator network 2806. TheGAN 2815 can be included in the AI texture generation 2025 module ofFIG. 20. The generator network 2803 is configured to transform randominput data (e.g., noise vector 2801) into generated data 2805. Thediscriminator network 2806 is trained to distinguish between generateddata 2805 output by the generator network 2803 and actual data within adataset. The generator network 2803 and the discriminator network 2806are trained together via a training module 2807. During training, thegenerator network 2803 learns to generate higher quality generated data2805 based on feedback from the discriminator network 2806. Duringtraining, the discriminator network 406 learns to distinguish betweenauthentic data and generated data 2805. Based on input parameters 2802,such as terrain data, the GAN 2815 can be configured to generate avariety of different types of generated texture data 2808 (e.g., Texture1, Texture, 2, . . . , Texture N). For example, textures for terrainsincluding deserts, high mountains, green trees, or any other type ofterrain can be generated by the meta-shader, instead of having differentprocedural texture shaders for different types of terrain.

AI-Based Dynamic Scheduling on Complex GPU Architectures

GPU deep pipelines may be difficult to program and/or to maintainperformance during dynamic workloads such as 3D gaming. One embodimentprovides for the use of a pre-trained network from a GPU ecosystem,which can be locally pre-trained or continuously trained to improveperformance. For a GPU hardware block that is statically programmed forperformance, it may be possible that some tradeoff has been made in thegraphics driver that may not be ideal for all cases in which the GPUhardware block is programmed. The graphics driver may not always havethe full picture, as understanding the full picture of the GPU workloadis too time consuming to perform in real time. Accordingly, heuristicsare employed as to which tradeoff to make for a given hardware block.

Embodiments described herein introduce a neural network hardware blockthat is responsible for programming the behavior for other hardwareblocks to obtain the higher overall performance. Specific blocks and/orlogic units that can benefit from dynamic adjustments include but arenot limited to scheduling blocks, memory controllers, caching hierarchyeviction algorithms, shared local memory banking, internal performanceoptimization hardware blocks, and power profiles. For example, ahardware scheduling block at the beginning of or within the GPU pipelinecan route work to various GPU blocks. This scheduling block isstatically partitioned in existing implementations. Embodimentsdescribed herein enable dynamic partitioning. Additionally, the memorycontroller can be configured to determine how data is pre-fetched basedon access patterns. Caching hierarchy can be partitioned between otherhardware units. The amount of cache that is given to each hardwarefunction (e.g., instruction, data, etc.) or how the cache is mapped to aspecific API concept (e.g., shader stage) within the GPU pipeline can bedynamically adjusted. For shared local memory banking, memory accesspatterns may dictate different scheduling algorithms to ensure fewerbanking collisions. Furthermore, internal performance optimization ofhardware blocks can be performed, for example, the serialization ofpixel processing after rasterization to prevent unnecessary hardware orsoftware operations. Additionally, power profiles can be dynamicallyoptimized over time. Depending on performance needs, the amount of powerrouted to the GPU can be modified based on a determination made by aneural network.

FIG. 29 illustrates a graphics processing system 2900 including AI-baseddynamic scheduling, according to an embodiment. The system includes ascheduler 2902, a GPU pipeline 2904, a memory controller 2906, a cachehierarchy 2908, a power unit 2909, and a neural network block (NN block2910). The NN block 2910, based on external input 2901 and performancestatistics 2905, can be configured to execute a neural network that candynamically manage or configure any one or more of the scheduler 2902,GPU pipeline 2904, memory controller 2906, cache hierarchy 2908, and/orpower unit 2909 using techniques described herein. The NN block 2910 canprovide programming information 2911 to hardware blocks within thegraphics processing system 2900 to configure those blocks based on theexternal input 2901, performance statistics 2905, and models executed bythe NN block 2910.

In various embodiments, the NN block 2910 of the graphics processingsystem 2900 can be configured to implement embodiments of the variousconcepts described below.

Intelligent Memory Controller Scheduling to Support Various Types ofMemory Requests

FIG. 30 illustrates a system 3000 for intelligent memory controllerscheduling, according to an embodiment. In one embodiment the NN block2910 can enable intelligent memory controller scheduling to supportvarious types of memory requests. The memory controller 2906 receivesrequest 3001 to access memory for different workloads including but notlimited to 3D, general purpose compute, or AI workloads. For some ofthose requests 3001, the memory controller 2906 may require support forrequests to access array of structures (AoS 3002) or structures ofarrays (SoA 3003) from a single memory block. AoS 3002 and SoA 2913 arecontrasting ways to arrange a sequence of records in memory with regardto interleaving. The memory controller 2906 is configured to work withan AI unit 3010 that can execute on a neural network block, such as NNblock 2910. The AI unit 3010 can support requests better utilize thecache and execution units based on the requests 3001, to reduce or highlatency associated with those requests. The AI unit 3010 can be trainedbased on cache utilization, page faults, latency, power, execution unitwait time, or other factors. In one embodiment the AI unit 3010 isincluded within the AI memory optimizer 2027.

Implementation of a Neural Network for a Graphics Pipeline

One embodiment provides for hardware logic to switch between atraditional GPU pipeline and neural network-based image generation andprocessing pipeline. The switch can be performed at run time dependingon desired tradeoffs between quality and performance.

FIG. 31 illustrates a system 3100 having support for dynamic pipelineswitching, according to embodiments described herein. In one embodimentthe system includes a GPU pipeline 2904 as described herein and a neuralnetwork pipeline 3110, which includes one or more hardware blocksconfigured to execute neural network operations. The neural networkpipeline 3110 can be programmed to use pre-trained or continuouslytrained neural networks to perform a variety of operations includingclassification or image (e.g., texture) generation. The GPU pipeline2904 and the neural network pipeline 3110 can each output to and readfrom a framebuffer 3104. The neural network pipeline 3110 can also beconfigured to use the framebuffer 3104 as input data for neural networkprocessing.

Depending on the workload the GPU pipeline 2904 may generate higherquality output relative to the neural network pipeline 3110, while theneural network pipeline 3110 may operate at a higher performance orlower latency for at least a subset of operations. Additionally, theneural network pipeline 3110 can perform inference operations based ondata output to the framebuffer 3104 by the graphics pipeline 2904. Insome embodiments, the GPU pipeline 2904 and the neural network pipeline3110 may share certain execution resources within the system 3100.Accordingly, the GPU pipeline 2904 and the neural network pipeline 3110may not be able to operate simultaneously (e.g., within the same clockcycle). In such embodiment, a switch 3101 can be enabled that allowsruntime switching between the GPU pipeline 2904 and the neural networkpipeline 3110. For example, the GPU pipeline 2904 can be configured togenerate image data, which can be written to the framebuffer 3104. Theswitch 3101 can be activated at runtime to enable the neural networkpipeline 3110, which can use the data within the framebuffer 3104 asinput to a neural network to perform an inference operation. In oneembodiment the GPU pipeline 2904 and the neural network pipeline 3110can be switched dynamically on a per-clock basis.

Neural Network-Based Switching Between s GPU Pipeline and a NeuralNetwork Pipeline

FIG. 32 illustrates a system 3200 having support for AI-based dynamicpipeline switching, according to embodiments described herein. In oneembodiment, the system 3200 of FIG. 32 can be similar to the system 3100of FIG. 31, with the addition of the neural network block (NN block2910) at the head of the GPU pipeline 2904 and neural network pipeline3110. The NN block 2910 can be configured to determine a pipeline towhich workloads are to be dispatched for a given cycle. The NN block2910 can dynamically configure the switch 3101 to select between the GPUpipeline 2904 and the neural network pipeline 3110 at run time dependingon the desired quality or performance of a pending workload.

AI Driven Thread Dispatch

FIG. 33 illustrates a system 3300 to enable AI driven thread dispatch,according to an embodiment. In one embodiment the system 3300 includes aprocessor 3302 coupled to the NN block 2910. The processor 3302 can be aCPU or GPU and can include CPU and/or GPU cores. The processor 3302includes a thread scheduler 3304 to schedule threads for workloads to beexecuted on the processor. For example, a set of kernel programs 3310 tobe dispatched for execution on the processor 3302 can be provided to athread scheduler 3304. The NN block 2910 can be used to determine anoptimal number of threads 3306 to be dispatched to the processor 3302 orto be active on the processor 3302 during a given set of executioncycles. The NN block 2910 can execute a neural network that is trainedfrom data sets of workloads executed on the processor 3302. The neuralnetwork can be pre-trained and/or can be continuously trained todetermine the optimal number of threads 3306. In one embodiment, AIdriven thread dispatch is performed by the AI scheduler 2026 of FIG. 20.

AI-Driven Hardware Memory Prefetching

Existing HW prefetchers may not reach optimal efficiency for allworkloads. Some hardware prefetchers are configured to simply prefetchsubsequent consecutive cache lines under the assumption that the nextinstruction will read or write data in a contiguous fashion. Embodimentsdescribed herein can be configured to train a neural network to learnmemory access patterns for a variety of workloads and use the learnedpatterns to infer the memory access pattern for a given workload. Thetrained neural network can then recognize a specific workload and adjustthe prefetch pattern to be specific for the recognized workload,resulting in improved prefetch efficiency for data from memory.

FIG. 34A-34B illustrate a system 3400 to enable AI-Driven HardwareMemory Prefetching, according to embodiments described herein. In oneembodiment, AI-Driven Hardware Memory Prefetching is implemented vialogic within the AI memory optimizer 2027 of FIG. 20. FIG. 34Aillustrates hardware components of the system 3400, where the hardwarecomponents include a graphics processor 3404, the neural network block2910, a cache prefetch unit 3424, and the cache hierarchy 2908 intowhich data will be prefetched by the cache prefetch unit 3424. The cachehierarchy 2908 can be a multi-level cache including level 1, level 2,level 3, and/or level 4 caches. Other cache levels can also be included.In one embodiment the graphics processor 3404 can also share anadditional last level cache with a CPU. Data can be prefetched into oneor more levels of the cache hierarchy 2908 from memory 3430, which canbe memory that is local the graphics processor 3404 or can be systemmemory that is shared with a CPU. Where the memory 3430 is systemmemory, the graphics processor 3404 can have a unified memoryarchitecture with the CPU or one or more other graphics processors oraccelerators.

FIG. 34B illustrates a cache lines 3450 associated with a block ofmemory, according to embodiments described herein. The cache lines 3450are within the cache hierarchy 2908 and store data that is prefetchedfrom the memory 3430 within the system. In one embodiment, NN block 2910can enable AI logic to control the cache prefetch unit 3424 to prefetchmemory into the cache lines 3450. The illustrated cache lines 3450compare memory 3456 prefetched by an AI hardware prefetcher to memory3454 prefetched by a conventional hardware prefetcher, relative to thememory 3452 read by a workload. As illustrated, the conventionalhardware prefetcher assumes a different read pattern than the patternused by the workload. However, the AI prefetcher, having been trained onthe memory pattern used by the workload, can recognize the workload andapply the proper prefetch pattern.

Embodiments described herein provide techniques to improve theefficiency of GPU deep pipelines. A first embodiment provides forAI-based tessellation at the vertex and pixel level. A second embodimentprovides for a processor including a neural network (NN) block that isaddressable by graphics compute units (e.g., execution units, computeunits, multiprocessors, etc.) within the processor. A third embodimentprovides for geometry culling visibility using machine learning to avoidexpensive pre-passes in fixed function hardware blocks. A fourthembodiment provides for a generative texture shader model in which ameta-shader can generate many different types of textures. A fifthembodiment provides for an AI-based dynamic scheduling on complex GPUarchitecture. A sixth embodiment provides for intelligent memorycontroller scheduling to support various types of memory requests. Aseventh embodiment provides for an implementation of a neural networkfor a graphics pipeline. An eight embodiment provides for a neuralnetwork switch to determine when to switch between a GPU pipeline and aneural network pipeline. A ninth embodiment provides for AI DrivenThread Dispatch. A tenth embodiment provides for AI-driven hardwarememory prefetching.

The following clauses and/or examples pertain to specific embodiments orexamples thereof. Specifics in the examples may be used anywhere in oneor more embodiments. The various features of the different embodimentsor examples may be variously combined with some features included andothers excluded to suit a variety of different applications. Examplesmay include subject matter such as a method, means for performing actsof the method, at least one machine-readable medium includinginstructions that, when performed by a machine cause the machine toperform acts of the method, or of an apparatus or system according toembodiments and examples described herein. Various components can be ameans for performing the operations or functions described.

One embodiment provides for a graphics processor comprising a block ofgraphics compute units, a graphics processor pipeline coupled to theblock of graphics compute units, and a programmable neural network unitincluding one or more neural network hardware blocks, where theprogrammable neural network unit is coupled with the block of graphicscompute units and the graphics processor pipeline. The one or moreneural network hardware blocks include hardware to perform neuralnetwork operations and activation operations for a layer of a neuralnetwork. The programmable neural network unit can configure settings ofone or more hardware blocks within the graphics processor pipeline basedon a machine learning model trained to optimize performance of a set ofworkloads.

In one embodiment the graphics processor additionally comprises a memorycontroller coupled with the block of graphics compute units. Theprogrammable neural network unit is to configure the memory controllerto support one of multiple types of memory requests from a shaderprogram executed via the graphics processor pipeline.

The graphics processor can additionally include a neural networkpipeline coupled with the block of graphics compute units, where theneural network pipeline to perform an inferencing operation based ondata generated by the graphics processor pipeline. Additionally, thegraphics processor can be configured dynamically switch between theneural network pipeline and the graphics processor pipeline. In oneembodiment, the one or more neural network hardware blocks are toexecute at least one layer of a neural network to determine when todynamically switch between the neural network pipeline and the graphicsprocessor pipeline.

In one embodiment the graphics processor additionally includes a threadscheduler to schedule a thread for execution on the graphics processorpipeline. The one or more neural network hardware blocks can execute atleast one layer of a neural network to determine a number of threads todispatch to the block of graphics compute units within a dispatch cycle.

In one embodiment the graphics processor additionally includes a cachememory and a cache memory prefetcher. The one or more neural networkhardware blocks can execute at least one layer of a neural network todetermine a pre-fetch pattern for the cache memory prefetcher.

One embodiment provides for a graphics processor comprising a block ofgraphics compute units, a memory fetch unit coupled with the block ofgraphics compute units, and a programmable neural network unit includingone or more neural network hardware blocks, wherein a neural networkhardware block includes hardware logic to perform neural networkoperations and activation operations for a layer of a neural network,the programmable neural network unit addressable by compute units withinthe block of compute units. In one embodiment the programmable neuralnetwork unit includes multiple neural network hardware blocks.

Various applications of the neural network block are provided byembodiments described herein. In one embodiment the programmable neuralnetwork unit is to determine visibility for a geometry culling operationvia the neural network hardware block, the neural network hardware blockto determine visibility on a per-object basis. In one embodiment theprogrammable neural network unit is to configure one or more neuralnetwork hardware blocks with a meta-shader neural network. Themeta-shader neural network can generate a texture for one of multipleindicated types of terrain.

One embodiment provides for an electronic device comprising a block ofgraphics compute units, a graphics processor pipeline coupled to theblock of graphics compute units, and a programmable neural network unitincluding one or more neural network hardware blocks. The programmableneural network unit is coupled with the block of graphics compute unitsand the graphics processor pipeline. The electronic device also includesa tessellation module to configure the programmable neural network unitto generate tessellated output based on coarse input data.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate from the foregoing descriptionthat the broad techniques of the embodiments can be implemented in avariety of forms. Therefore, while the embodiments have been describedin connection with particular examples thereof, the true scope of theembodiments should not be so limited since other modifications willbecome apparent to the skilled practitioner upon a study of thedrawings, specification, and following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A graphics processor comprising: a block ofgraphics cores; and circuitry including a programmable neural networkunit, the programmable neural network unit including one or more neuralnetwork hardware blocks, wherein a neural network hardware blockincludes circuitry to perform neural network operations and activationoperations for a layer of a neural network, the programmable neuralnetwork unit addressable by cores within the block of graphics cores. 2.The graphics processor as in claim 1, wherein the one or more neuralnetwork hardware blocks include a source data buffer, a neural networkoperations and activation operations block, and an output data buffer.3. The graphics processor as in claim 2, wherein the neural networkoperations and activation operations block is programmably configurable.4. The graphics processor as in claim 3, wherein the programmable neuralnetwork unit includes a block programming unit to configure layer stateinformation for the one or more neural network hardware blocks, thelayer state information associated with one or more layers of a neuralnetwork to be processed by the programmable neural network unit.
 5. Thegraphics processor as in claim 3, wherein the programmable neuralnetwork unit includes weights cache to cache weights associated with oneor more layers of a neural network to be processed by the programmableneural network unit.
 6. The graphics processor as in claim 5, whereinthe programmable neural network unit includes multiple neural networkhardware blocks.
 7. The graphics processor as in claim 6, whereinmultiple neural network hardware blocks are each associated with one ormore layers of the neural network to be processed by the programmableneural network unit.
 8. The graphics processor as in claim 1, whereinthe programmable neural network unit is to determine visibility for ageometry culling operation via the neural network hardware block and theneural network hardware block is to determine visibility on a per-objectbasis.
 9. The graphics processor as in claim 1, wherein the programmableneural network unit is to configure one or more neural network hardwareblocks with a meta-shader neural network, the meta-shader neural networkto generate a texture for one of multiple indicated types of terrain.10. The graphics processor as in claim 1, further comprising atessellation module to configure the programmable neural network unit togenerate tessellated output based on coarse input data.
 11. A graphicsprocessing system comprising: a memory device; and a graphics processorcoupled with the memory device, the graphics processor including: ablock of graphics cores coupled with the memory device; a memory fetchunit coupled with the block of graphics cores and the memory device; andcircuitry including a programmable neural network unit, the programmableneural network unit including one or more neural network hardwareblocks, wherein a neural network hardware block includes circuitry toperform neural network operations and activation operations for a layerof a neural network, the programmable neural network unit addressable bycores within the block of graphics cores.
 12. The graphics processingsystem as in claim 11, wherein the one or more neural network hardwareblocks include a source data buffer, a neural network operations andactivation operations block, and an output data buffer.
 13. The graphicsprocessing system as in claim 12, wherein the neural network operationsand activation operations block is programmably configurable.
 14. Thegraphics processing system as in claim 13, wherein the programmableneural network unit includes a block programming unit to configure layerstate information for the one or more neural network hardware blocks,the layer state information associated with one or more layers of aneural network to be processed by the programmable neural network unit.15. The graphics processing system as in claim 13, wherein theprogrammable neural network unit includes weights cache to cache weightsassociated with one or more layers of a neural network to be processedby the programmable neural network unit.
 16. The graphics processingsystem as in claim 15, wherein the programmable neural network unitincludes multiple neural network hardware blocks.
 17. The graphicsprocessing system as in claim 16, wherein multiple neural networkhardware blocks are each associated with one or more layers of theneural network to be processed by the neural network unit.
 18. Thegraphics processing system as in claim 11, wherein the programmableneural network unit is to determine visibility for a geometry cullingoperation via the neural network hardware block and the neural networkhardware block is to determine visibility on a per-object basis.
 19. Thegraphics processing system as in claim 11, wherein the programmableneural network unit is to configure one or more neural network hardwareblocks with a meta-shader neural network, the meta-shader neural networkto generate a texture for one of multiple indicated types of terrain.20. The graphics processing system as in claim 11, further comprising atessellation module to configure the programmable neural network unit togenerate tessellated output based on coarse input data.